


Together We Fall

by Fourvict



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: F/M, Svtfoe, starco
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-07-19 14:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 40,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19975855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fourvict/pseuds/Fourvict
Summary: Star and Marco's feelings about each other start to change, while a familiar foe is lurking in the shadows and they aren't alone this time. A dark story about Star and Marco discovering their feelings while also being threatened by a more sinister threat. Starts at Bon Bon the Birthday Clown. Starco





	1. Prologue

Prologue

"Thanks for agreeing to go to the dance with me, Star," Marco says while hanging up decorations.

"N-no problem Marco," A faint blush forming on Star's cheeks thinking about the dance, "Why are you so worried anyways, it's just a school dance."

"It would be so embarrassing if I showed up by myself, I WOULD BE LABELED AS A LOSER FOR LIFE!" Marco throws his hands in the air before quickly reaching back for the ladder he was seated on. "And what if Jackie saw me there by myself, she would never go out with me then," Marco rests his head in his palms groaning to himself.

Star rolls her eyes at his last comment, lately Marco even looking at Jackie is irritating her, but she can't seem to figure out why. "Don't worry Marco, I'll be right there with you the whole night."

Marco looks up from his hands and smiles slightly "Thanks Star."

"Hey Marco, Woah nice job with those decorations dude," Jackie says now standing by the ladder Marco is sitting on.

"AAAH," Marco topples off the ladder and lands on Star, causing Jackie to chuckle.

"You guys alright?" offering Marco her hand to help him up.

"Uh no, I MEAN YEAH, sorry a-are you alright? Hehe…" Marco says as he gets up on his own

"Uhhh yeah? You sure you're okay, I think you might have hit your head."

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry just worried because uhhhh-THE DANCE, I'm just worried about the dance tonight," Marco replies as he scratches the back of his head.

"Oh yeah I get that, just try to enjoy it dude, it's meant to be fun." Jackie puts her hand on Marco's shoulder to comfort him. "Are you two going together?" She gestures at Star and Marco.

Star looks up from her place on the ground and nods, "Yeah," Marco says looking down at Star and smiling before snapping his head back to Jackie and quickly adding "but just as friends of course, right Star?"

"Yeah, just as friends, obviously," Star sighs, maybe one day we'll be more than that. Wait what? NO, he's my bestie and that's it! I don't feel that way about him… right?

Star's internal conflict is cut off by Marco's voice, "Uhh, are you p-planning on g-going with anyone… to the dance… tonight?"

"Oh, uhhh" Jackie looks around avoiding eye contact.

"Sorry sorry I shouldn't have ask-"

"No it's fine, it's just-" Jackie goes up to Marco and whispers in his ear "-I know Star likes Oskar and I didn't want to upset her"

"Wait, you are going to the dance with Oskar?" Marco whisper shouts at Jackie.

She blushes a little "yeah, I know you don't like him that much but he's actually a super awesome guy, you should give him a chance." Marco doesn't respond, he just stares at nothing in particular, trying to wrap his head around what he just heard. "Marco? Did you hear me?" Jackie begins

waving her hand in front of Marco's face.

"Oh, yeah sorry, totally I'll, uhh, talk to him sometime… yeah… great."

"Hey Jackie, we gotta get going," Oskar is waving to Jacke from the doorway.

"Oh sorry gotta run Marco, see you at the dance," Jackie says before running over to Oskar

"See ya Marco," Oskar shouts to Marco but he doesn't even notice, Marco is just staring at the ground, his legs shaking and his heart racing. He couldn't breath, he could feel the tears building in his eyes. He felt as if his whole world just broke in half and everything had just been ruined, everything he had planned since he first met Jackie.

"Marco? Marco? MARCO!" Marco snaps out of his trance and quickly wipes his eyes before looking down at Star, who is still lying down on the ground.

"Your princess is in need of assistance," she extends her arm out and giggles. Marco helps her up to her feet but doesn't say anything. After standing there for a few seconds Star wraps her arms around Marco and hugs him tightly, " I'm sorry Marco, I.. I heard what Jackie said, I'm sorry she doesn't see how amazing you are."

Marco's eyes widen when Star tells him that she heard, "Why are you apologizing!? She's going with Oskar, I should be apologizing to you," he wraps his arms around her too feeling she needs the comfort too.

"Yeah but that was just a small crush, you've liked Jackie for years now, you deserve better than what just happened, I just… I just really wanted to see you happy tonight," Star sniffles, on the verge of tears, genuinely sad for Marco because of how much this meant to him.

Marco started stroking Star's hair when he heard her sniffle "Hey, don't worry, I just need to think for a bit, and I'll be fine tonight, because you'll be there with me, it's impossible not to have fun when you're around."

"Awww, thanks Marcoooo," She nuzzles her head under his chin, getting very comfortable in the position they are in.

Eventually Marco pulls away from the embrace, "Well we better get going, we have a big night ahead of us." Marco smiles widely at Star, hoping to make her feel better. His smile has the desired affect and she smiles at him and starts skipping to the door.

"Come on Marco, Let's get ready to party!" Marco starts jogging to catch up to her and then they walk home together, happily talking and enjoying each others company, but Marco still can't get Jackie out of his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Marco lay in bed staring at his ceiling, replaying the conversation he had with Jackie in his head. "I can't believe it, I thought I was doing so well... ugh, I'm so stupid, I actually thought... I was stupid enough to think she actually felt the same way." He screamed punched his wall before calming down and putting his face in his pillow and cried for a while.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he was there for but eventually he calmed down enough to think rationally again. "Why did she choose Oskar of all people? Maybe because he's got a record... maybe I could ask Tom how to be a bad boy hehe." He chuckled to himself before looking over at his clock. "I ONLY HAVE 30 MINUTES TO GET READY FOR THE DANCE!?" Marco shoots out of his bed, wipes his eyes and runs to his closet.

With Star

"I'm so excited for the daaaance." Star says to Janna who is lying down on Stars bed messing with a flashlight.

"It's just a dumb school dance, are you sure you wouldn't have more fun with me and Bon Bon tonight?"

"I can't just leave Marco alone at the dance, he would be so embarrassed if he went by himself." Janna stops playing with her flashlight and raises an eyebrow at star, "What is it Janna?"

"So is that why you're so excited for the dance?"

"What? I'm excited because it's a party, and who doesn't like to partyyyy!" Star says while jumping up and down excitedly.

"Yeah but like, is it because you like Marco?" Janna says putting the flashlight down and sitting up to look at Star. Star's eyes widen and she blushes deeply, turning away from Janna.

"N-no, he's my best friend a-and… uhhh, he…" Janna continues to look at Star as she attempts to stutter out a response. "M-maybe…"

"Maybe?"

"WELL I DON'T KNOW OKAY, he's really nice and I always have the most fun when I'm around him, b-but he's my best friend and he likes Jackie not me, so even if I do it doesn't matter," She slowly turns around to face Janna.

Janna gets up and walks over to Star, "It's okay, Star, go have fun with him, show him that Jackie is nothing compared to Star Butterfly," She smiles at Star Confidently.

Star smiles back and hugs Janna "Thanks Janna."

"Hey Star you ready?" Marco shouts to Star from downstairs.

Star looks at Janna, "Go get him, Star," Janna releases the embrace and Star nods at her.

"Coming Marco!" Star starts to run out of the room before stopping and turning around, "wait how do I look, do you think Marco will like it?"

"He won't even remember Jackie's name once he sees you," Janna gives Star a thumbs up and smirks.

"Thanks Janna, Bye," She waves to Janna and runs out of the room.

Marco is waiting down stairs talking to his parents when he hears Star's excited voice, "Hey Marco!" Marco looks up to the top of the stairs and sees Star and his eyes go wide. Star is wearing a sleeveless aqua dress with a dinosaur designed onto it at the bottom(the dress used in the episode "Booth Buddies" because I'm bad with clothes). Marco had never seen anyone so beautiful, he was completely breath taken. He was completely paralyzed until Star came barrelling down the stairs and ran up to Marco. "Soooo, how do I look?" Star looked at Marco with an eager expression awaiting his response.

"Y-you look, uhh… you l-look…" Marco takes a deep breath "you look really beautiful Star," he brightly smiles at Star earning a deep blush from her.

"T-thanks M-Marco, you look super cute too by the way," she smirks and ruffles his hair.

Marco blushes slightly and gives Star an annoyed look "Thanks Star, I guess," Star giggles at his response.

"So are you ready to PARTYYY?" Star asks grabbing Marco's shoulders and hopping up and down.

"Wait kids before you go, I must take a photo of my son and his beautiful date," Mr. Diaz comes up to them with his camera.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa, this isn't a date, we're just friends,' Marco says nervously. Star looks away

"Oh yes right right, sorry kids, just stand there and smile for the camera," Mr. Diaz smiles widely at them as he takes photos of them.

Star is enjoying taking photos with Marco but starts thinking about her conversation with Janna. If I want him to like me I'm gonna have to show him how much I care about him. She takes a deep breath and wraps her arms around Marco's waist and nuzzles into his neck. Marco is surprised by this but isn't opposed to it and wrapped his arms around her, while still smiling at the camera.

Eventually they release the embrace, and start heading off to the dance, both of them smiling and blushing slightly after the embrace they just shared.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is an Earth school dance?" Star is looking around seeing the disaster that is the Echo Creek high school dance.

"Uhhhh…." Marco is staring wide eyed at the dance he can't believe what he is seeing. "Is that the basketball team?!" Marco looks for something in the party and Star notices him searching.

"What are you looking for Marco?"

"Huh, where's Jackie? She said she would be coming."

This annoys Star, she wishes he would just forget about Jackie and focus on her now, "Hey, just forget about Jackie, have fun with me." She smiles at him softly, trying to enhance the affect of what she said.

He smiles back at her, "yeah you're right, sorry Star I don't want to get you down with my moping," he smiles at her brightly and looks back at the party, "Wow, this party is a mess."

"Well it doesn't mean we can't have fun right, Marco? Wanna go dance and get this party started!" Star excitedly looks at Marco, hoping they can dance together.

"I don't know Star, this place is a mess, maybe we should just leave," Star's heart sinks, she was so excited to come here with Marco, she thought it might even make him develop feelings for her. She really wanted to dance with him again like they did at the blood moon ball.

"Oh, okay," She sniffles slightly, not loud enough for Marco to hear.

"Why don't we go walk around the park together, my parents don't expect us to be back for a few hours so it should be fine."

Stars eyes light up, "Yeah, that sounds great Marco." Well I might not get to dance with him, but we can hang out in the park, alone. Ohhh I really hope he starts liking me.

"Well shall we go, Princess?' Marco jokes while offering her his hand.

To his surprise she takes his hand in hers, "we shall, my prince," she giggles at her own comment as they start walking out of the party.

DID SHE JUST CALL ME HER PRINCE!? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? SHE WAS JUST JOKING MARCO YOU'RE OVERREACTING. CALM DOWN. Marco takes a breath and calms down but is wary of the fact that they were still holding hands.

They joke around and talk about their adventures while walking through the park, enjoying every second they spend together. But while they are together enjoying each other's company, they are unaware of the evil that is being unleashed.

With Ludo

Ludo is pacing around his cave, wand in hand, wondering how he can get his hands on the Magic Book of Spells. "Ugh, how am I going to get that book from that little brat!" His wand begins to glow and Ludo stares at it intently, "What? Go try to get the book now, why?" The wand glows again, "Oh, that's a fantastic idea, she wouldn't be prepared for an ambush in her own home, I'll go get bird and spider." Ludo begins running to his companions before the want glows again, "Go alone, but why, we need to take out that karate boy while I deal with Star." Ludo looks at his wand confused, unsure of why they would go alone. When the wand glows he gasps, "That's brilliant we can sneak in easier and she wouldn't even notice we stole the book, oh what would I do without you."

Ludo uses his dimensional scissors to get into Star's room, "Okay where's the book," The wand glows, then Ludo checks under the bed. "Wow that is a really obvious hiding place," Ludo then opens the book and sees Glossaryck sleeping on the pages, "What is that?" The wand glows again, "Okay? Where would I find the blank page with a spade on i-oh here it is! Okay now what?" Ludo's wand glows very brightly and after a few seconds Ludo turns the page, "What's so special abo-AAAHHH,"

Ludo flies into the air and his eyes glow green, his hand then grows onto his wand, transforming it so it has the wand piece in its center and one finger missing. Ludo lands on the ground and sighs with relief in a different voice. He then walks over to Star's secrets closet and points his wand at it, a magic green key briefly appears in the key hole before the door creaks open.

Ludo walks to the center of the room and picks up Toffee's severed finger in his non-wand hand before sticking out his wand hand. He smirks an evil grin before attaching the finger to the missing area on his hand. Then suddenly his body morphs into a septarian, wearing a suit and tie, Toffee. Toffee stares blankly at Star's room for a few seconds before throwing up Ludo onto the ground. "Ugh, what a pitiful creature." Toffee mutters, disgusted by Ludo, before he punts him out of the closet, through Star's room and out a window. "Now, I have business to attend to." Toffee fixes his tie before walking out of Star's room.

With Star and Marco

Star and Marco walk around together for awhile before finding a bench to stop at. As they sit down Marco releases Star's hand, both of them instantly have a feeling of emptiness as the warmth leaves their hands.

"So, any magical adventures planned for tomorrow?" Marco questions as he sits down on the bench.

Star joins him on the bench, "Nah, I was thinking maybe we could just stay here, maybe watch a couple movies," She shrugs and leans back on the bench.

"Yeah that sounds good, it's been awhile since we've just relaxed here and done nothing."

Star's head snaps up, "Oh, but you do still have to cook me nachos, I need meh nachos." Star grabs Marco's shirt and pulls him closer to emphasize her last few words.

Marco chuckles, "Of course Star, I would never let my princess go Nacholess," He says with a smirk.

Marco calling her his princess causes Star to blush deeply. OMG he just called me HIS princess, does that mean he likes me? No. Star. He was just joking around, don't jump to conclusions like that, oh but what if he dooooeeeeessss! Star releases Marco's shirt from her grip before lying back on the bench and petting Marco's head, "Good Marco."

After a few seconds of silence Star leans her head on Marco's shoulder and wraps an arm around his back. Marco stiffens at the contact before relaxing after he sees its just Star resting on him. "Star, what are you doing?"

"I'm just resting, it's been a long day. Unless you have a problem with this?" Star says teasingly as she wraps her other arm around him and scoots herself closer on the bench so that their sides are pressed against each other.

"N-no, its fine, just caught me off guard is all," Marco rests his head on hers and starts blushing at how close they are, feeling incredibly happy with the position they are in.

After a few minutes of lying there together Marco moves his head and starts looking down at his lap but Star doesn't seem to notice. What's going on? Tonights been so great with Star, I've completely forgotten about Jackie most of the night! And whenever me and Star touch I get this super weird feeling, I feel better when I've felt better being close to her tonight than I ever did talking to Jackie. Could I be… developing feelings for Star.

"Marco… I-I'm sorry that I'm not Jackie…" Star says snapping Marco back to reality. Star sits up off of Marco and looks at him.

"What?!"

"I know you would rather be here with her right now, s-so I'm sorry that you c-couldn't be with her instead."

"Star, I'm having tons of fun just being here with you, I haven't even thought about Jackie all night." Marco puts his hands on Star's shoulders to comfort her.

"Marco, I saw you staring down at your lap just then, I know you were thinking about Jackie." Star looks away from Marco, not wanting him to see the jealousy in her eyes.

"No that's not what I was thinking about," Marco reaches to Star's face and turns her head around to face him and then removes his hand. He smiles at her, hoping she will believe him and be happy again.

"Then what were you thinking about?" Star looks at Marco unconvinced, still thinking he is lying.

I can't tell her! I've only felt this way about her once, what if I change my mind, it would be a disaster! "Star, I can't tell you right now, I'm sorry but I can't, just believe me when I say that it wasn't about Jackie, I'm super happy being here with you." He hugs her tightly and she gladly returns the hug.

"Space Unicorn, Soaring through the stars…"

Marco pulls away from the hug and picks up his phone. "Hello?"

"Hi honey, it's your Mom, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting the dance but there's a problem here at home." Marco's mother sounds panicked which causes Marco to worry.

"Wait Mom, what's wrong, you're not in danger are you?"

"We aren't sure, there's a lizard man in a suit sitting on a chair in the living room." Marco's heart drops and his eyes go wide.

"MOM, YOU AND DAD HAVE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE NOW AND GET AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE! Me and Star will be there in a few minutes but just get out of there now!" Marco hangs up and starts hyperventilating.

"Marco what's wrong with your parents?" Star grabs Marco's shoulder to calm him down. He slowly turns his head to face Star with a worried look on his face.

"Toffee is at my house"


	4. Chapter 4

Star wakes up in her bed, feeling something cold on her abdomen, sunlight shining onto her face. She sees Marco sitting at her bedside and smiles. She suddenly remembers Toffee was in the living room and snaps up to a sitting position in bed, "WHERE'S TOFF-ouch." Star clutches her stomach before lying back down. Marco jumps up into the air, startled by Star's sudden outburst.

"Star, you have to lie down and rest, don't worry Toffee's gone," Marco walks over to Star and fixes the ice pack that was just flung off of her stomach. He then sits back down and grabs her hand, causing her to blush, "Are you feeling alright?'

"Y-yeah, my stomach really hurts though. What happened last night?"

"Star that wasn't last night, you've been out for 2 days," Marco says with concern in his voice.

"What?! How?! What happened with Toffee?" Star sits up slowly and leans against her wall, grabbing her hair out of stress.

"Well, we got home and he showed us that he had his finger again. Then he got up and tried to leave, but you tried to blast him so he punched you in the stomach and tossed you across the room." Star looks at Marco wide eyed as the memories come back to her of what happened. Feeling weak remembering how easily he defeated her. Marco looks away before tackling Star into a hug, "I-I was so worried about you, when he p-punched you, you coughed out blood and I didn't know i-if you were gonna be alright o-or…"

"Hey, don't worry Marco, I'm okay, I've taken much worse than just one punch before, I'll be fine." Marco releases the hug and sighs, still worried about her. Then he remembers something else that happened with Toffee, "Marco, I'm serious it's f-"

"OH STAR! Sorry for cutting you off, but I just remembered Toffee gave me this, something about not liking magic," He reaches into his pocket before pulling out the other half of Star's wand.

Star gasps and takes the wand piece from Marco, "This is great! Now we can fix my wand and it'll be strong again, Toffee won't stand a chance," Star pumps her fist into the air confidently.

"Yeah well you should probably call your Mom when you feel better so you can figure out how to fix it,"

"Yeah I will. Did anything else happen with Toffee? He didn't hurt you did he?" Star looks at Marco with a worried expression.

Marco thinks for a second, he doesn't want her to be upset that he got hurt and he doesn't want her to worry about him coming back, "No he didn't hurt me, he uh… just left, I doubt he'll come back he d-didn't seem like he was interested i-in you a-anymore."

Star reaches over and hugs Marco, "Oh that's great, I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt because of me."

Marco releases the hug, "Well I promised you some nachos today so I'll go make them now, then we can watch some movies on my computer in here while you rest." Marco stands up and smiles at Star before he walks out of the room.

Marco stops right after he walks out of her room, after a few seconds he peeks back in to see Star, who is lying down firing spells into the air. Marco sighs and pulls his head back, "I won't let him hurt you again Star, I promise." Marco clenches his fists and goes to make Nachos.

Star eventually gets up out of bed and drags herself to her mirror, despite the pain in her abdomen. She stands up straight and tries to hide any signs of pain so she can call her Mom without being interrogated. Star takes a deep breath, "Call, Mom."

The mirror starts ringing and after a few seconds Moon Butterfly appears on the mirror, "Oh hello dear, you aren't causing any trouble are you?"

Star rolls her eyes, "No Mom, I was just calling you to show you this!" Star excitedly pulls out the piece of the wand. "We got both pieces of the wand! So what do I have to do to fix it." Star stares eagerly at her mother who is in shock by the sudden reappearance of the wand piece.

"Oh that's delightful Star, it's really simple, you will just have to give the wand and the other piece to Glossaryck for a few days so he can recombine them."

"Thanks, Mom!" Star gets ready to turn off her mirror before pausing and thinking about Toffee. "Mom there's actually one other thing I wanted to tell you about."

"What is it Star?" Moon looks at Star, curious about her sudden change in demeanor.

"Toffee is back… and he got his finger back too." Moon gasps hearing this, her eyes going wide as she remembers what he did to her mother. "He's stronger than ever Mom! Me and Marco didn't stand a chance, I-I couldn't even cast a single spell on him and, and-"

"Star calm down, this isn't your fight. Me and the royal guards will take care of Toffee, you just keep training on Earth, Okay darling?" Moon says in a motherly tone.

"Okay mom…" Star says softly. Her eyes light up remembering she is about to watch movies with Marco, "I gotta go Mom, Byeeeee," Star waves energetically at her mother.

"Oh, okay, stay safe, bye dear." Moon waves back at Star delicately. Star ends the call and slumps over again, feeling the pain in her stomach. She slowly makes her way over to the spell book "Glossa-" Star pauses, thinking about not having magic for a few days. 'Eh, I can give him the wand tomorrow, for now, I'll just enjoy having Magic.' Star smiles at her decision before changing out of her party attire and into her normal, aqua dress with a pink squid at the center. She looks over at the door, "Huh, I wonder what's taking Marco so long." Curious, Star walks out of her room and slowly makes her way down the stairs, trying not to aggravate her sore abdomen.

"Marcoooo?" Star walks into the kitchen and notices he isn't there, "Where could he be?" Star turns around and goes to the living room. When she enters the living room she sees a monumental pile of Nachos on the table and is mesmerized by them. She stares at the nachos for a few seconds before hearing a familiar voice.

"Forty Six" Star looks down and sees Marco on the ground, seeing him sweating profusely, struggling to do another push up.

"Marco? What are you doing?" When Marco hears Star's voice he screams and collapses, He quickly gets up to his feet and tries to make something up.

"Uh, I was just… counting crumbs on the carpet?" Star raises an eyebrow at Marco. He drops his head in defeat and sighs, "I was doing push ups,"

"Why?" Star looks at Marco quizzically.

"B-because… J-Just in case Toffee ever comes back, I-I'm scared he might hurt one of us, I want to be able to p-protect myself from him… and I want to be able to protect you." Marco looks up at Star, both of them blushing a little at what he said.

"Aw Marcooo, you don't have to do that, I'll be okay, I have my wand," Star shakes her wand in front of Marco's face.

Marco looks at Star, worry and fear filling his eyes, "But that wasn't enough last time…"

Star stops shaking her wand and frowns, she looks at Marco's expression and sees the fear in his eyes, "Okay, I guess you have a point, just don't hurt yourself okay?" Star smiles softly at Marco.

"Oka-oof" Marco is cut off by Star tackling him into a tight hug. Marco gladly hugs her back, not too tight, worried about her injured stomach.

"Thank you, Marco." Star rests her head on Marco's chest, listening to his heartbeat. She feels safe when she's there in his arms, she feels at home when she's with him. She wishes that moment could last forever, but she pulls away from him when an idea comes into her head. "Marco, I-I can't get up the stairs because of my stomach, c-could you c-carry me up there p-please?" Star looks away and blushes lightly.

Marco's mouth drops open, shocked by her request, but after thinking about it, it makes sense. "Sure Star," Marco smiles widely at her, a light shade of pink of his cheek.

His response causes Star's blush to darken to the color of Marco's hoodie, despite her embarrassment she smiles back at him, "T-thanks." Marco bends down and picks up Star bridal style. Star wraps her arms around his neck and buries her head in the crook of his neck. Marco walks Star up to her room and lays her on her bed gently.

"I didn't hurt your stomach when I was carrying you did I?" Marco asks concerned.

"No you didn't, don't worry, safe kid," Star giggles and Marco gives her an unamused look.

"I'll go grab the Nachos and my computer, then we can start watching some movies." Marco begins walking out of the room.

"Thanks Marco!" Star shouts to him as he exits her room. She lies down and gets comfortable in her bed. Star smiles to herself, thinking about Marco carrying her up the stairs. "I love you, Marco." Star giggles to herself and waits for her prince to return.


	5. Chapter 5

In the Underworld

"Okay, Mom. Goodnight!" Tom walks through the door to his room and grabs the control for his video game. He walks over and sits down on his chair and turns on the TV, He releases a sigh of relief and relaxes into his chair while he plays his game.

"Hello, Prince Lucitor." Tom hears a voice coming from across the room and jumps out of his chair. He turns around and sees Toffee sitting in his throne, enraged by this he prepares a fireball in his palm, rearing his arm back to throw it. "Who are you? And what are you doing here in my throne?!" Toms eyes turn red as he finishes his sentence.

"Calm down, My name is Toffee and I merely want to talk to you about some… business," Toffee stands up and walks towards Tom, stopping a few meters before him.

Tom throws a fireball at his shoulder, knocking him back towards the throne, "You sneak into my house, and sit in MY throne and you think I'll have any interest in working with you?!" Fire starts burning all around them as Tom berates Toffee.

"Maybe, if you listen to my proposal, then you will," Toffee stands up and the crater in his shoulder fixes itself and the burn marks disappear. Tom gasps, seeing that his fireball doesn't even leave a scratch on Toffee. "Now, will you stop being foolish and listen."

Tom ignores Toffee and flies towards him, bringing his hand back, preparing for a punch. As he gets ready to hit Toffee in the face he is blasted back across the room by Toffee, who whipped his tail into Tom's torso. Tom groans in agony as he collapses against the wall. Toffee walks over to Tom and grabs his chin forcing him to look up at him. "Now… Listen!" Toffee shouts, slapping Tom's face back to the ground.

"I want to offer you an opportunity to teach Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly a lesson for treating you like a monster." Toffee puts his hands behind his back and walks away from Tom and sits back in the throne.

"I-I'll never help y-you, Marco is my friend." Tom says weakly, sitting back up against the wall.

"But is he really?" Toffee asks, raising an eyebrow at Tom.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you may see him as a friend, but to them you're just a monster."

Tom gets up to his feet and stares at Toffee, defying the septarian, "No, he is my friend, he would never think of me like that."

Toffee stands up and walks towards Tom confidently, "Really? Ever heard this before? An evil monster tries to get a princess to fall for him, only to have a knight in shining armor come and save her. You tried to get Star at the blood moon ball, but there Marco was, coming to save her from the evil monster" Toffee stops in front of Tom, whose face is starting to show signs of uncertainty. "You are the monster and Marco is the knight, coming to swoop in and take her from you, just like at the blood moon ball." Toffee smirks at Tom, seeing the terror and betrayal in his eyes as he looks at the ground. "Marco only keeps you around and pretends to be your friend, so you screw up again and he can save Star," Toffee leans forward and whispers to Tom, "Face it. To them you are, and will only ever be, an evil, disgusting, monster."

"N-no… I know they don't think that… they a-are my friends." Tom turns his head up to look at Toffee weakly.

"Why deny it? Why try to be nice to them when all they will ever see you as is a monster!" Toffee shouts at Tom, walking closer to Tom to intimidate him "Join me, and we can teach them a lesson, one they won't soon forget."

Tom stands there and thinks for a second, processing everything he just heard.

"Okay," Tom frowns angrily, his eyes turning red, "Let's do this."

Toffee turns around and smirks at Tom, "Excellent." Toffee pulls out Ludo's dimensional scissors and opens a portal, "Follow me." Tom follows Toffee through the portal. When he exits the portal he sees tents set up with many weapons and skeletons lying around, "This is where I launched the original attacks on mewn, this is where my army used to live." Tom looks behind him to see butterfly castle not too far away and turns back to Toffee.

"Why do you want to hurt Star and Marco so badly? What's in it for you?" Tom questions Toffee, not fully understanding his motives.

Toffee turns around and looks at Tom before and evil smile appears on his face.

"To send a message."


	6. Chapter 6

Marco wakes up and looks to the side at the clock, he sees it's seven AM and decides to try to rest a little longer. He closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep, but he suddenly realizes something odd about his room and reopens his eyes, looking at the roof. 'Huh, since when did I have a canopy over my bed?' Marco ponders it for a few seconds before realizing that he isn't in his room, he's in Star's. After a few seconds of shock, Marco takes a breath and slowly looks to his side and he freezes again. He sees his arm around Star who is sleeping at his side, her head resting on his chest. She is smiling happily and her arms are wrapped around Marco tightly, one of her legs is lying over Marco's waist causing him to blush deeply. 'Oh no, I must've fallen asleep with Star when we were watching movies yesterday' Marco facepalms with his other hand, embarrassed about being stupid enough to fall asleep in Star's bed.

Marco doesn't know what to do, he doesn't want Star to wake up and see them like this, but he also really enjoys cuddling with Star. He decides that despite how much he enjoys this, he should still leave, mostly to not make things awkward. He carefully moves away from Star and gets out of bed. He sighs, missing the feeling of warmth he had when he was next to Star. Marco looks at Star sleeping happily and smiles at her, he leans forward and kisses Star gently on her forehead before leaving her room to go make breakfast.

Marco makes himself pancakes and heads up to his room and eats. When he finishes his pancakes he goes back to Star's room to see if she's awake. He sees her still sleeping peacefully in her bed causing him to smile, "So cute." Suddenly Marco has flashes of memories about when Toffee punched Star a few days ago. He feels sick remembering what Toffee did to her. Rage quickly builds within Marco and he quickly stomps to his room and sets up 3 wooden boards and strikes through them with a karate chop. Marco thinks about Toffee and rage burns in his eyes as he starts setting up 8 wooden boards. As he prepares to strike through it, an orange portal appears before him. "Huh? What's this portal doing here?" Before Marco has time to examine the portal, two white hands reach through it and pull Marco into it.

Marco looks around and sees Hekapoo standing next to him, "Who are yo-WHOA, what are you doing?" Marco is cut off when Hekapoo reaches into his pocket and pulls out his dimensional scissors.

"These are MY dimensional scissors, see," Hekapoo lifts the scissors, displaying the bright symbols on the scissors. "My name, Hekapoo, that's my name, H-E-K-A-P-O-O, Hekapoo." Hekapoo gestures at each symbol to match each letter as she speaks."I'm in charge of making and distributing all dimensional scissors in the universe and I never gave you any,"

"Yeah okay, I have no idea who you are, look I just want to get back home to Star, so could you just, I don't know, whip up a pair of scissors for me or whatever you do and I'll be on my way." Hekapoo bursts out laughing, causing Marco do give her an annoyed look, "What?"

Hekapoo, still laughing, says, "I don't just give away scissors, you have to earn them, did you really think it would be easy to get interdimensional travel, in the palm of your hand?"

"Fine, what do I have to do?" Hekapoo bursts out laughing again, rolling around on the floor.

"You, a human, wants to earn dimensional scissors," Hekapoo continues laughing for a few seconds before seeing Marco's unamused expression, "Okay, fine I guess. You're no fun. All you have to do is blow out this fire here on my head." Hekapoo gestures towards her flame.

"Huh, that doesn't seem that hard," Marco leans forward to blow out the candle but Hekapoo disappears and reappears 10 feet away from Marco.

"I've got something important to deal with, so let's just get this over with," Hekapoo multiplies into dozens of duplicates of herself and creates a bunch of different portals around them. All the different Hekapoo's run into portals in different directions. "It'll take you decades, maybe even your whole life to blow out all of these flames, just give up," A portal back to earth opens behind Marco, he looks at it sadly, ready to give up. He takes a step towards the portal, before stopping and looking at it. 'All of me and Star's adventures happen because of those scissors, I can't give up all of that.' Marco turns around to face Hekapoo, "I'll get those scissors, no matter how long it takes," Marco blows out the first Hekapoo's flame and walks into a random portal.

With Star

Star shoots out of her bed when she hears a loud bang coming from another room in the house. She lies back down and after a few seconds of lying down, she says, still half asleep, "What was that loud noise?" Star shrugs and tries to fall back asleep again. Her eyes then fly open "What if it was Toffee? What if Marco is in danger? I'm coming Marco!" Star jumps out of bed and sprints to Marco's room with her wand, "Marco are you okaaaaaaayyyy…." Star gets to Marco's room and sees an orange portal, "Whaaaaaaa…" Star points at the portal before realizing what kind of portal it is, "Oh my gosh! This is one of Hekapoo's portals, what does she want with Marco?" Star stands there looking at the portal for a few seconds before she remembers what her Mom told her about when she earned her dimensional scissors, "Oh no! Marco could be like 70 already, I have to hurry and get to him, Don't worry Marco I'll save you!" Star runs into the portal, ready to save Marco, no matter what.

With Marco 16 years later

Marco walks up to a castle being guarded by two Hekapoos, sword in hand. The Hekapoos both see Marco and get ready to fight, but Marco swings his sword throwing a gust of wind at them, blowing out their flames. Marco walks towards the castle and opens the door. He is met by another Hekapoo, who charges at him. Marco easily dodges her strike and trips her to the floor. He leans down and blows out her candle before walking further into the castle. After walking through a corridor for a few seconds he finds the real Hekapoo, who has his pair of scissors ready in her hands. "Well you finally did it, I'm impressed, considering your a human," Hekapoo hands Marco the scissors and he snatches them from her hands.

"Thanks," Marco says blankly, "I'll be on my way now, I'd say it's been fun but I've been stranded in this dimension for 16 years, so it hasn't." Marco gets ready to open a portal before he hears a loud "CRACK" sound. Marco looks over to the door and sees Star at the door, rage burning in her eyes.

She lifts her wand and a ray of blue light blasts out of the wand and hits Hekapoo, knocking her across the room and into the wall. Star stomps across the room and presses her wand against Hekapoo's face, "Where. Is. Marco!" The light around the wand turning blue, charging for a blast.

"Star!" Star turns around and sees Marco, before she can react she is tackled into a hug by Marco

"Marco?" Tears start forming in his eyes as he hugs her tighter.

"I-It's been so long since I saw you, I thought I would never see you again." Marco releases the hug and looks at Star

"Come on, let's get out of here," Marco nods and opens a portal back to earth and they both walk through it.

When they walk through the portal Marco notices he is a lot shorter than he was when he entered. He looks down at himself and sees he is just like he was 16 years ago, "What happened?! Where are my abs?!" Star boops his stomach and giggles.

"Time works differently in Hekapoo's dimension, you were only gone for like 8 minutes here" Star smiles innocently at Marco, who is completely in shock by what he just heard.

"8 minutes….." Marco grabs his head and sits down on his bed, "No, no, no, no, no…"

"Hey Marco, look on the bright side, now we can still grow up together and go on super awesome adventures. You're just getting back all those years that you lost." Star sits down next to Marco and puts her hand on his shoulder.

Marco looks up at Star, he stares at her face for a few seconds, remembering how much she means to him, "Yeah, I guess you're right." Marco turns around and hugs Star tightly, "I missed you so much."

Star hugs Marco back and they sit there for a few minutes, Marco wanting to catch up on all the hugs he missed in the last 16 years. "Let's go hang out, get you used to being a teengager on Earth again," Star stands up and offers Marco her hand to help him up, he takes her hand and stands up.

"Okay, let's go." Star runs out of the room, dragging Marco with her. Causing Marco to blush a little, enjoying the feeling of their hands being intertwined again.


	7. Chapter 7

Star and Marco are running out of the house together but they are interrupted by a loud thump sound behind them. They both turn around and see the book of spells at the bottom of the stairs, it flies open and Glossaryck floats out of it. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Glossaryck sticks out his hand.

Star raises an eyebrow at Glossaryck, "What do you mean?"

"Your wand, don't you want it to be fixed?"

"Ohhhh, right, right, right," Star hands Glossaryck her wand and reaches into her pocket for the wand piece. She finds it and gives it to him. Glossaryck takes both items and goes back into the book. Star turns back to the door but hesitates before leaving, she turns back to the book, "Glossaryck, uhh, how long will you need my wand for?"

Glossaryck floats back out of the book, "I'll only be a few days, but every second you ask me questions is another second without your wand."

"Oh, okay, sorry i'll uhh, let you get back to fixing the wand." Glossaryck sighs and floats back into the book. Star turns around and looks back at Marco, "Let's go, Marco." Star walks through the door and Marco follows closely behind her.

"So, where do you wanna go?" Marco walks up so he's next to Star, their hands brushing against each other.

"Uhhh, I don't know, maybe we could go to the movies?" Star turns her head and shrugs, smiling.

"Okay, that sounds great, what kind of movie do you want to watch?"

"I don't mind, you can choose, it is your first movie in 16 years."

Marco scratches his head and thinks for a second, "hmmm, we could go see a horror movie, unless you're too scared?" He says teasingly smirking at her.

"I fight monsters like, everyday, I think I can handle a little movie." Star looks at Marco smugly, not even slightly afraid of the movie.

"Okayyy, but if you get scared at all, I'll be there if you need a hug," Marco teases, earning a blush from Star, who punches his arm at his comment.

"I'll be fine, now let's go watch this movie!" Star points her finger forward and starts running towards the movie theatre, Marco following close behind.

During the Movie, Star clung to Marco whenever something scary happened. Eventually after a big jump scare she was completely in Marco's seat, where she stayed for the rest of the movie, wrapping her arms around his torso. At the end of the movie when they were getting out of there seat Marco gave Star a devious smirk, "What happened to, 'oh I can handle it Marco, I won't get scared'?" Marco imitates Star in a high pitched voice.

"Hmph," Star looks away from Marco and crosses her arms. She stays like that until she has a fantastic idea, she turns to Marco and gives him a flirtatious look, she grins and puts her hand on his arm, "What? Didn't you enjoy my cuddles, don't think I didn't notice you hugging me in your sleep last night, wild man." Star leans forward and traces her finger along Marco's chest.

"I-I wasn't s-saying that, I just meant-" Star starts laughing as Marco attempts to fabricate a response, "What?"

"I was just messing with you Marco, I know you love my hugs!" Star smiles brightly at Marco and hugs him. She releases the hug and starts leaving the theatre, "So what should we do now? We could go to another dimension but I don't have my wand so it might be a bit dangerous."

Marco catches up to Star and walks by her side, "I think I've had enough of other dimensions for a while."

"Oh right sorry, so what do you want to do then?"

Marco thinks for a second, "We could go to the pier? There's a ferris wheel and a bunch of games."

"What's a ferris wheel?" Star stops and tilts her head to the side in confusion.

"Oh, it's like a big wheel with seats around it, it spins and you go all the way to the top and then back down, you'll love it."

Star stands there, bewildered by the idea of riding a wheel, "Sounds awesome! Let's do it!" Star grabs Marco's hand and runs to the pier, dragging him with her.

They have a great time running around the pier playing games and eating food, when the sun starts setting Star turns to Marco, "Can we go on the ferris wheel yet? Pleeeease." Star pleads, putting her hands together and giving Marco puppy eyes.

Marco tuns to look at the sun, he sees that the sun is setting, 'Perfect.' He looks back at Star and nods "Okay, I guess we can go," Marco says teasingly.

"Yayyyyyyy! Come on Marco let's go!" Star starts skipping over to the ferris wheel and Marco walks behind her. When they get to the ferris wheel Star is jumping up and down in anticipation. "Come on Marco, hurry up," Star nags causing Marco to speed up.

Marco stops in front of the worker standing at the front of the ferris wheel and pays them before gesturing for Star to get into one of the carts. When Star sees Marco gesturing to her she runs over to him and jumps into the cart. She sees Marco whisper something to the worker causing him to shake his head before Marco offers them $650. 'Hm I wonder what that was about?" Marco walks onto the cart and closes the gate behind him, he sits next to Star and she asks, "Hey what was that about with the person working at the ferris wheel, why'd you give them $650?" Marco blushes slightly and turns his eyes away from Star.

"Uhh it was nothing... Hey look at the sunset!" Marco quickly distracts Star and points over at the water, Star gets out of her seat and walks over to the edge of the cart. She gasps as she sees the orange and pink colors radiating off of the horizon.

"It's sooo, pretty." Star looks at the sunset, her eyes sparkling in amazement. Marco looks at Star and sighes at her contently. They reach the top of the ferris wheel and it stops moving. Marco stands up and walks over to Star.

"Hey Star?" Marco gets to the railing and leans against it, looking out at the sunset. He turns to look at Star and hesitantly reaches over to grab her hand. Star turns away from the sunset and looks over at Marco when she feels the contact.

"M-Marco?" Star blushes faintly and stares into Marco's eyes.

"I've b-been wanting t-to talk to you about something for a while now a-and after what happened with Hekapoo… I just didn't want to wait any longer." Some confidence came back into Marco's voice at his last statement.

"O-Okay, W-what did you want t-to talk to me a-about?" Star asks nervously, realizing this might be what she's been dreaming of for the last year.

"I, uhh, I just," Marco stops and focuses on Star's eyes, he takes a deep breath and turns his body to face her. He reaches down to grab her other hand and brings them together in between them.

"Star, you're the most amazing person I know and that's not just because your a magical princess, you're so cheerful and energetic it's so fun to be around you, you're always there for me and you always help me no matter what. Your my best friend and I don't know what I would do without you, but I… I don;t just want to be your best friend, b-because…. I love you," Marco sees Star tearing up and hopes it's for the right reason, "S-so will you, Star Butterfly, be my princess, will you be my girlfriend…. Please?" Marco stares at Star awaiting her response. Star is processing everything she heard, staring into Marco's eyes she starts crying tears of joy. After staring at him for a few seconds she releases one of her hands and slides it up Marco's arm and places on his cheek causing Marco to blush deeply.

Star leans towards Marco and pulls him closer. She presses her forehead against his, their lips brushing against each other lightly, "Yes," She whispers before pressing her lips against his. Marco puts his hands on Star's waist and pulls her closer gently. They seperate for air before kissing each other again, this time with more passion, pressing themselves together with more force now. Star moves her other hand up to Marco's neck and puts stretches out both of her arms. After a few more seconds they part and stare into each others eyes. "I love you too Marco," Star softly presses her lips against Marco's again for a few seconds.

They smile at each other, thrilled that at long last they are finally together and don't have to hide their feelings anymore. The new couple sit back down in the ferris wheel and the carts start moving again. Star leans her head against Marco's shoulder and intertwines their hands once more, ready to enjoy the rest of the night with her boyfriend.


	8. Chapter 8

"I know Janna I can't believe it, I'm so happy!" Star is dangling her head off of her bed, talking on the phone with Janna. "Okay well, I need to go get my beauty sleeps. Byyyeeee Jannaaaa!" Star hangs up her phone and puts it away. She turns the lights off before going under her covers and trying to sleep. She opens her eyes anns stares at the roof and sighs contently. "Ahh, Marco," Star says dreamily with half lidded eyes. As she gets ready to close her eyes and go back to sleep, she hears a familiar voice coming from the darkness in her room.

"Oh princess, did you forget about me?" Toffee steps out from the shadows into a line of light, revealing himself to Star. She reaches for her wand instinctively, only to remember Glossaryck has it. "What, don't have your wand?" Toffee smirks at Star. "Why do you think I gave you that piece of the wand back, you didn't really think I would just hand it to you for no reason, right?"

Star puts her guard up and glares at Toffee, "What do you want with me?!" Toffee wraps his tail around Star's waist and slams her into the wall behind her before throwing her down against the ground.

"Now why would I tell you that." Toffee lifts Star into the air by her neck and raises his fist to punch her.

"Leave me alone!" Star raises both of her legs and kicks Toffee in the torso, knocking him back. Star charges at Toffee and prepares to strike him with her fist. As she approaches him, Toffee steps to the side, avoiding her punch. Star quickly spins around to look at Toffee, but is met with a fist hitting her hard across the jaw. The strike knocks Star to the ground, she looks around and can't focus, her head is spinning as her vision starts to fade.

"Don't tell me your going to sleep already." Toffee wraps his tail around Star's right arm and lifts her into the air so their eyes are at the same level. Star squints her eyes open weakly and looks at Toffee. He slowly tightens his tail's grip around her arm and it starts crushing it. Star screams out in pain.

"Stop! Leave me alone! Please! MARCOOOO!" Toffee throws Star into the air and she lands on the floor behind him. He turns to face her, "Did you really think I would let him interfere, don't worry, he has bigger problems right now." Toffee lifts Star up by her hair and punches her in the Stomach, launching her across the room.

With Marco

Marco is lying in bed thinking about Star, he can't get the feeling of their kiss out of his mind. Marco rolls over and sees Tom standing on the side of his bed, "Whoa! Oh hey Tom, what are you doing here?" Tom doesn't say anything and raises his hand into the air, a fireball forming in his palm. "Wait Tom, what are you doing?" Marco flips off of his bed to the opposite side from Tom. Tom throws the fireball at Marco and he barely rolls out of the way.

"Dude what the heck?! We're friends!" Tom's eyes turn red and fire bruns around him.

"That's what I thought too! But unlike you, Toffee told me the truth!" Tom throws a punch at Marco, who parrees the punch and spins around, kicking Tom in the stomach. Tom recoils back, but quickly prepares two fireballs and throws them at Marco, he dodges one of them but the other one hits him in the side, burning him and knocking him back. Tom quickly stomps over to Marco, fire burning behind each step. He lifts him into the air by his collar before quickly slamming him back down with his fist, knocking the wind out of Marco.

Marco lays on the ground and coughs after the impact. Tom prepares a large fireball, but before he can throw it Marco sweeps his legs from under him and gets up to his feet. Tom stands up and tries to kick Marco in the side but Marco catches his leg and punches Tom in the face, dazing him. Marco goes for another punch but Tom avoids it and slams another fireball into Marco's chest, throwing him back against the wall. Marco groans out in pain and grips his chest. Tom kicks him chest repeatedly, knocking the wind out of Marco. He can feel his consciousness fading and he is about to pass out when he hears an ear piercing scream. He thinks he can recognize Star's voice in the scream and his fears are confirmed when he hears Star scream his name.

"Star," Marco's pupils contract as he realizes that Star is in trouble. Tom prepares to kick Marco in the face to knock him out, but when he swings his leg his foot is met with the hard wall of Marco's room. Marco moved out of the way of Tom's kick and got behind him. He puts his hand on the back of Tom's head and smashes his head into the wall before spinning him around and punching him in the face, knocking him out. Marco quickly runs out of his room to go help Star.

With Star

Star is crawling into a corner in her room with one arm, trying to escape from Toffee. She reaches the corner of her room and leans against the wall, "P-Please S-Stop." Toffee approaches Star and grabs her neck, he lifts her into the air and looks her in the eyes

"We're only getting started, princess." Toffee lifts his fist into the air, ready to strike Star again but he is stopped when something strikes him in the side of the face. He wobbles sideways and drops Star, "Huh?" He turns to see what hit him only to feel a strong force against his chest, knocking him across the room and to the ground. Star sees Marco standing in front of her ready to fight, 'M…. Marco?" Star calls out to Marco as she passes out.

"I told you to leave Star alone," Marco lifts his guard and stands in front of Star to protect her. Toffee gets up and looks at Marco.

"Oh, it's just you, you remember what happened last time right? Maybe you want to step aside." Toffee grins at Marco and walks towards him.

Marco glares at Toffee, "I'm not the same little boy I was last time!" Marco punches Toffee in the chest, his fist going straight through his chest. Before Toffee can react Marco spins around and sweeps through Toffee's legs, splitting his feet from his legs.

Marco runs over to Star and opens a portal next to her. As Toffee is regrowing his feet so he can stand up, Marco picks up Star and jumps through the portal, closing it when he gets to the other side.

Toffee stares at the place where the portal used to be and smiles. He walks to Marco's room and sees Tom struggling to get up, he sighs in disappointment. "Get up, he's just a human." Tom drags himself to his feet and groans. "Let's go, we have to get started on the next phase of the plan." Toffee opens a portal and steps through it, with Tom trying to follow closely behind.

When they arrive at their base Tom collapses down to his knees causing Toffee to turn around and look at him. When he sees Tom on his knees he groans at him. Tom looks up at Toffee, "What are we gonna do, together the two of us weren't strong enough to beat both of them so how are we gonna beat them."

"We don't need to beat them, I just needed them out of the way for the next part of my plan." Toffee turns to look at one of the tents in their base. "And we aren't alone anymore."

"What do you me-" Tom is cut off when he hears a low laugh coming from inside the tent Toffee is looking at.

A tall figure walks out of the tent, they are wearing a robe that covers their whole body and the top of their face. There is a long reptilian snout poking out from the robe and a tail coming out the back. They lift their hands up to their head and slowly removes the hood of their robe. Tom gasps when he sees who the person is revealed to be. An evil grin appears on the figures snout.

"Let's go kill some butterflies." The figure starts chuckling, the chuckle then grows into a hysterical psychotic laugh, causing Tom to quiver in fear.

With Star and Marco

Marco and Star have been sitting in the neverzone for an hour, Marco is unsure if it's safe to go back and Star is still unconcious. Marco decides they need to go back home and Toffee will probably have left by now. Marco opens a portal back to Star's room and pokes his head through. When he sees that Toffee isn't there, he picks up Star and brings her through the portal. Marco lays Star on her bed. He grabs her hand and sits by her bed for a few minutes before kissing her forehead and getting ready to leave.

"M-Marco?" Star tightens her grip on Marco's hand, not letting him leave.

"Oh my god, Star! Are you okay? I was so worried about you." Marco turns around and rushes back to Star's bed, kneeling at her bedside.

"Marco, I-I… I don't want t-to talk a-about that stuff r-right n-now. C-can you just stay here with me t-tonight…. Please?" Star looks at Marco, her eyes pleading him to stay there with her.

"Of course I will Star," Marco leans down and kisses her softly, before walking around to the other side of the bed. Marco lies down on Star's bed and gets under the covers, ready to go to sleep. He looks over at Star and sees her staring at the ceiling, a scared look in her eyes. Marco reaches over and pulls Star in for a hug. Star rests her hands and her head on his chest, she closes her eyes, "Thank you, Marco." After a few seconds Marco could hear Star, quietly whimpering against his chest, he tightens the hug to comfort her. Marco stays awake until he could hear Star's breath steady, signalling that she had fallen asleep, as he drifted off, he worried about what affect Toffee's attack might have on her.


	9. Chapter 9

Marco wakes up when a ray of sunlight hits his eyelids. His eyes flutter open and he sees Star still asleep in his arms. He sighs contently before slowly getting up to go make breakfast. After he finishes making himself breakfast, he decides to cook some nachos for Star while he eats. While he is making the Nachos he sees Star slowly making her way through the doorway, he notices a large bruise on her face and another bruise wrapping around her right forearm. She enters the kitchen, using the wall to help herself stand.

"Hey Marco," Star says, clearly not fully awake. Marco rushes over to Star and wraps an arm around her shoulder and helping her to the couch.

"Star, why did you get out of bed, you should be resting," Marco walks back to the kitchen to get the Nacho's for Star.

Star grabs a handful of nachos and shoves them into her mouth, she attempts to respond to Marco but can't because of the nachos.

"Star, what did we say about trying to talk and eat at the same time."

Star swallows the nachos before making a second attempt at responding, "I don't wanna lie in bed, I wanna be with you." Marco rolls his eyes, but still can't hold back the blush that forms on his cheeks as a result of her comment.

"Do you want to come with me to get the first aid kit, you uhh, you don't look so good" Marco gets up and offers his hand to help Star up. Star nods and takes Marco's hand, as she gets up she immediately collapses onto Marco. "Whoa!" He catches Star and helps her stand up. "Here, lean on me, you shouldn't be standing on your own right now.." Marco wraps his arm around Star's shoulders and she leans against him.

"Thanks Marco." Together they slowly make their way towards the kitchen again to get the first aid kit.

Marco helps Star sit down on a chair nearby and brings the first aid kit to her. "Okay, what hurts the most?"

Star quickly responds, "My right arm, he… he crushed it with his tail." Star puts her arm on her lap, revealing the large bruise wrapping around it. Marco reaches out to the freezer and pulls out an ice pack, handing it to Star.

"This should help. Unless it's broken, but if it was broken then you wouldn't be able to move it so I think it's okay." Marco reaches into the first aid kit and starts placing bandages on every small cut on Star's face.

"Come on safe kid, the cuts aren't a problem, you don't have to bandage every tiny cut on me." Star grabs Marco's hand and pushes his arm away.

"Right sorry, sorry, I'm just worried about you is all." Marco looks down at his feet.

"Awww Marco, it's okay." Star gets up, leaning on Marco and she kisses his cheek. "Now take me to the couch." Star demands in a joking tone.

Marco giggles at her tone, "Anything for my princess," Marco picks Star up and carries her to the couch, gently laying her down.

They sit on the couch saying nothing for a while before Marco decides to break the silence. "Hey Star… are you o-okay… I don't mean physically, I mean like, mentally." Marco gently grabs Star's hand and looks at her.

"I… I'm worried he might come back a-and I won't have my wand… If I have my wand I'll be able to stop him, b-but without it… I'm scared of what he could do…" Star looks down at her damaged arm, remembering how easily she was beaten without her wand. "How did you stop him? You don't have any magic but you could keep him down for long enough for us to escape."

"Remember, I trained for years in the neverzone and that place had lizard people like him too, I got pretty good at fighting them… well, running away from them."

"Oh yeah, right, right." Star looks up at Marco and thinks for a few seconds. "Marco? Could you… stay with me at night…" Star sees Marco's eyes go wide in shock nd she quickly adds, "Just until I get my wand back"

Marco thinks for a second, his first instinct is to say no, but he thinks back to last night and remembers the feeling of Star against him as he drifted off to sleep. After that he knew his answer, with no hesitation Marco answers, "Of course I will Star." Marco looks at Star and sees her looking worried. "Don't worry Star, when you get better we're gonna find him and teach him a lesson." Marco tries to motivate Star but it doesn't work as she continues to look down with a worried expression.

"I don't want to fight him again, after what he did last night I… I can't face him again." Marco frowns, not knowing what to do to get Star's confidence back.

"This isn't the first time you've lost Star, the Star I know would never give up, she gets right back up ready to show her enemies that she is not one to be messed with." Marco puts his hand on Star's shoulder and gives her a confident look. Star looks up and sees Marco's face, "And I'll be there kicking his butt with you."

"Your right, we'll show him what happens when you mess with Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz." Star pumps her fist into the air, forgetting about the damage Toffee did, before recoiling from the pain, "Ow, after I get better." Star giggles at her mistake before seeing Marco staring at her.

"That's my warrior princess." he says softly. Marco smiles at Star earning a bright smile right back his way. They stare into each others eyes for a few seconds before Marco decides to ruin the moment, "Seriously, you do need to lie down though, let's go up to your room."

"Marcooo. We were having a moment and you totally ruined it." Star folds her arms and gives Marco an annoyed look.

"Yeah well you still need to lie in bed to recover."

"Hmph" Star looks away from Marco causing him to roll his eyes. He leans towards her and gently grabs her chin and tilts her head towards his. He puts his other hand on her lower back and leans forward, kissing her. Star squeaks at his sudden change in attitude, but she quickly melts into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him. After a few seconds Marco pulls away.

"Happy now, princess?" Star stares at Marco, still entranced by the kiss they just shared.

"Yeah totally, totally, totally." Star's response makes Marco giggle. He gets off the couch and bends down, his back facing her.

"Hop on," Star shakes out of her trance and gladly gets on Marco's back. She raises one of her arms and points towards the stairs.

"Onwards my loyal steed." Marco laughs at her choice of words before walking up the stairs and to her room.

Marco and Star spend the rest of the day hanging out in Star's room, cuddling while watching movies and playing their board game with miniature versions of themselves before eventually falling asleep together in bed.


	10. Chapter 10

4 Days Later

"Okay Star, ready to go?" Marco says, standing in the doorway next to his father, a backpack on his shoulders.

"Coming!" Star slides down the stair railing and crashes into Marco, knocking him to the floor.

"Hey."

"Hi," They stare at each other for a bit before they burst out laughing. Star rolls off of Marco and helps him to his feet with her left arm due to her right arm still being damaged.

"Someone is excited," Marco's father comments, still chuckling after the events that just took place.

"Why wouldn't I be, we get to go out, explore the woods, climb mountains." Star excitedly responds to Mr. Diaz, "And we get to sleep outside. I used to do that all the time back on mewni. I can't wait to see what it's like on earth." Star squeals, bouncing up and down.

"Calm down Star, remember you're still hurt, I don't want you making it any worse." Marco says putting a hand on Star's shoulder, stopping her from bouncing.

"Yeah whatever safe kid. Now let's go camping!" Star skips into the car and awaits the arrival of Marco and his father.

"Are you sure you don't want me to join you Marco, you might need some help with…" Mr. Diaz gestures towards Star, who is dangling out of the car with her head on the ground.

"Don't worry dad, it'll be fine."

"Okay, if you're sure." Together Marco and Mr. Diaz walk to the car. Marco gets in the back so he can sit next to Star and Mr. Diaz starts driving to the forest.

Star gives Marco a giddy smile, causing him to give her a soft smile in return. He wraps his arm around her shoulders and she rests her head on his chest, resting before the adventures that lie ahead.

With Toffee and Tom

Toffee, Tom and the monster wearing a robe are walking towards Butterfly Castle. As they approach the castle a pair of guards walk up to them and point their spears at the robed figure, who is standing in front of Toffee and Tom. "Turn around, you aren't allowed in the castle." One of the guards moves the spear closer to the monsters before the monster wearing a robe grabs the spear and snaps it in his hand. He starts laughing before he reaches his hand out to grab one of the guards faces and throws them behind him, through a house the other guard lunges their spear at him only for it to get stuck in his abdomen. The monster swings his fist directly into the guards face, knocking them unconscious along with knocking some teeth out. He pulls the spear out and turns back to Toffee and Tom, "Let's go." The low voice of the robed monster sends chills through Tom's spine, who is still shocked from seeing him dismantle the guards. Toffee follows the figure into the castle, still with an evil grin plastered on his face.

When they walk into the castle they are met with dozens of guards, who all charge into battle at the sight of intruders. The disguised monster turns and walks behind Toffee and Tom, "You two handle this." Tom nods nervously and prepares fireballs in his hands. He throws a fireball into the center of the room, creating an explosion that knocks all the guards to the ground. Toffee then walks towards a guard and whips them with his tail, before turning to another one and punching them in the chest, knocking them across the room. Together Toffee and Tom plow through the dozens of royal guards as they make their way up the castle, the robed figure following close behind.

They reach a large door and as Toffee reaches to open it Queen Moon blasts through it in her butterfly form, knocking Toffee to the ground. "Leave this castle now, or face the consequences." Tom charges at moon but she easily avoids it by flying into the air. She creates a large energy sword and swipes at Tom and Toffee, Tom flies up into the air while Toffee is sliced in half. Moon sees Tom avoid her sword so she lifts her six arms to face him and energy shoots out towards Tom. He is blasted back into the wall with enough force to knock paintings down across the hallway. "Prince Lucitor? Why are you invading my castle? Our kingdoms are allies." Moon flies close to Tom as she hopes to get an answer out of him. She prepares to pressure him further as she raises the sword to his throat but she is stopped when a fist connects with her face and Toffee charges at her, tackling her into a wall. Toffee begins showering strikes onto moons face, attempting to knock her unconscious but she quickly raises her two bottom hands to his stomach and blasts him into the ceiling, landing next to Tom.

The hooded monster walks up to Toffee and Tom, stopping at their sides. "Get up," He says coldly. Toffee stands up quickly, but Tom barely manages to get up as he stumbles to his feet. Moon hovers above them, her eyes and cheek marks glowing white.

"That's enough," Moon firmly states as she swipes her arm, creating a line of energy that races towards them. It blasts Toffee and Tom across the room but the robed figure stands there, unfazed by the attack.

"Pathetic," he mutters. Moon gasps before continuing the attack, she dives down and flies towards the creature, preparing her energy sword. She drives the sword into him but is immediately punched in the face and launched across the room. She smashes into a wall and her wings sprawl out against it like a bug on a window. Her wings and extra arms disappear as he collapses to the floor. The creature walks towards her and she blasts one more beam of energy towards him, hoping to damage him but to no avail. When the blast stops all that can be seen is a hole in his robe. He reaches moon and lifts her by her head, "You're even weaker than your mother," before she can comprehend what he said, her face is slammed down into his knee, knocking her out.

The robed monster hoists moon onto her shoulder and walks past Toffee and Tom, the latter still being on the ground. "Hurry up." He says as he walks past them. Toffee follows close behind and Tom uses the wall to help himself up and follows them out of the castle..


	11. Chapter 11

"Bye kids, have fun!" Mr. Diaz waves to the two teens as he drives off, leaving them alone together in the forest.

"Byeeee!" Star waves energetically back at Mr. Diaz, wearing a bright smile on her face.

Marco reaches his hand out and places it on Star's shoulder. "Come on Star, let's go set up camp." Star nods at Marco and they walk over to where they left their equipment.

When they reach their stuff, Marco picks up his tent. "Star, do you need me to help you set up your tent?"

"Psshh, Marco, I went camping on Mewni all the time, I'm pretty sure I can handle this," Star says as she unravels her tent.

"Okay, if you're sure." Marco rolls his eyes, obviously not convinced that she can handle it.

After a few minutes, Marco had set up his tent and a chair outside it. He looked over the fruits of his labor from a distance before nodding contently and sitting down in the chair. He watches as Star struggles with the poles for her tent and giggles to himself. He starts getting up to help her but remembers what she said. 'Maybe I'll just let her try for a few more minutes; she did say she could handle it.' Marco lays back down in his chair and enjoys the show.

A few minutes go by and Star throws the equipment to the ground. "Ugh, this is impossible!"

When Marco hears Star's sudden outburst, he lets a smug smile come onto his face. "I thought you said you could handle it?" Star looks over at Marco and gives him an annoyed glare which knocks the smile off of his face immediately. "You know, you could just, uhh… staywithmeinmytent." Marco mutters the last part under his breath.

Star tilts her head at Marco. "What was that last part?"

Marco breathes in deeply. "I said you could sleep in my tent… with me… if you want…"

Star's face lights up when she hears Marco's offer. She gets up and walks over to him. "Awwww, really?"

"Y-yeah, of course you can if you want." Marco rubs the back of his head and chuckles nervously.

"Thanks Marco, huuuggs." Star wraps her arms around Marco and he gladly returns the embrace. When they break the hug, Marco keeps his arms partially wrapped around Star's waist. They look deeply into each other's eyes and Marco starts to lean forward and close his eyes. He waits in anticipation for that warm sensation to come over his body once again, but it never comes, instead he feels a sharp pain in his right shoulder.

His eyes shoot open and he sees that Star had punched him in the shoulder. "Owwww, what was that for?" Marco grabs his shoulder and rubs it gently.

"For letting me try to set up that tent, FOR THIRTY MINUTES, before finally saying I could stay with you."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry… It was just so funny." Marco says before he starts laughing.

Star crosses her arms and looks away. "Hmph." Marco sees that she is getting annoyed and walks in front of her. He leans forward and gently kisses her lips. She wraps her arms around his neck and leans into him. Marco pulls away from the kiss and looks at Star.

"Sorry I upset you, Star." Marco looks at Star apologetically. Star frowns at Marco. "Does that mean I'm not forgiven?"

She smirks at him and puts her hands in his hair. "Not yet." Before Marco can apologize again, Star jumps onto Marco and pushes her lips against his. Marco nearly loses his footing from the sudden weight pushing him back, but he manages to stay standing. He tightens his grip around her waist and kisses her back. This kiss felt different from the last ones that they shared, it felt more passionate and lustful. The sensation of Star's fingers running through his hair is making Marco feel like he is about to explode. Marco felt Star's teeth bite down on his lip and it drove him mad. He wished it could last longer but Star pulled back from the kiss and released her teeth.

Star saw the dazed look in Marco's eyes and gave him a giddy smile. "Come on Marco, show me what Earth camping is all about."

As Star started walking off into the forest, Marco blinked a few times to help himself refocus and then quickly jogged up to Star. "Well, there's this really amazing lake nearby, we could go there if you want?"

Star turns and smiles at Marco. "That sounds great, Marco. How far away is the lake?"

"It's just a few minutes this way." Marco points forward into the forest.

"Okay, let's go there then." They continue walking forward to the lake that Marco talked about until Star gets an idea. She looks at Marco and smiles deviously. "Hey Marco."

Marco starts turning his head to look at Star. "Yeah, St-"

"TAG!" Star shoves Marco and starts running in the direction of the lake.

"Hey, no fair!" Marco sees Star running through the forest giggling causing him to sigh contently. "You can't run forever, Butterfly!" He starts running in the same direction he saw Star going. Marco can't see any sign of Star so he keeps running until he hears a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey, Marcoooo!" He stops running and turns around quickly only to see Star dangling by her legs from a tree, he hair hanging from her head and swaying with the wind.

"How- You know what, I'm not even gonna ask." Marco's response causes Star to giggle. He begins attempting to climb the tree to get to Star. Star watches as he struggles to climb the tree, enjoying the entertainment he is providing.

When Marco eventually reaches the branch that Star is hanging from, she swings her legs off the branch and lands perfectly on the floor.

"Bye Marco!" Star waves enthusiastically to Marco before running towards the lake again. Marco stares at her running off into the distance again.

"How does she do this?!" Marco cautiously makes his way back down the tree and starts running after Star again.

After a minute of running, Star decides to sit down on a rock and wait so she doesn't lose Marco. She shoots up off the rock quickly when she hears a ruffling sound coming from the bushes. She carefully approaches the bush, wary of the fact she doesn't have a wand to protect herself from Ludo. "Marco?" Star stops a few feet before the bush and gets ready to fight whatever is behind it. Her fears are quenched when Marco jumps out from the bush and tackles her to the ground, putting his hand behind her head to make sure she doesn't get hurt.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Marco proudly boasts that he managed to catch Star.

Star smiles at Marco. "And I," she wraps her arms and legs around him, pulling him down towards her, "got you." She giggles at her own actions while enjoying the warmth that Marco's body is emitting.

Marco pulls his head back and smiles at Star. "I wouldn't want it any other way." Star blushes at Marco's response and smiles softly at him. Marco starts leaning forward and so does Star. As their lips are about to touch, Star suddenly rolls over so that she is on top of Marco and raises her fists into the air.

"Aha! I have conquered this mighty warrior!"

"Darn, fooled again by Princess Butterfly." Star smiles softly at Marco and he returns the smile. She wraps her arms around his neck and lies down on him, laying her head on his chest.

"Awww poor Marco, this must be so awful." Star teases. Marco wraps his arms around Star's back, pulling her closer to him.

"Somehow it isn't actually that bad." Marco and Star both chuckle before fully melting into the embrace.

They lie there for a few minutes before Star's head shoots up and she gasps. "What is it Star?"

"Look, it's so adorable! Awww." Marco rolls his head back to see what Star is looking at, only to see a grizzly bear with two cubs staring right back at them. His pupils contract as he sees the menacing animal looking at them. Marco carefully gets up and grabs Star's hand. "Star, that's a grizzly bear. I need you to listen to me and back away from it, slowly."

Star pulls her hand out of Marco's grip and turns around to face him. "But why, Marco? They're so cute. Look at the wittle babies." Star says the last sentence in a babyish voice while making faces at the cubs.

"Star those bears are really dangerous; please just do what I say." Marco pleads with Star who is still making faces at the cubs.

"I'm gonna go say hi."

Marco's eyes go wide and he attempts to wrap his arms around her to stop her, but she ducks out of the way and runs over to the bears. "No, Star!"

Star reaches the bears and turns around to face Marco. "Don't worry Marco, I got this." She turns back to the bears and spreads her arms out wide to hug the grown up bear. The bear stands up on its hind legs and raises an arm ready to swipe at Star. Marco covers his eyes and feels the tears building in them, knowing what is going to happen to Star; knowing he is powerless to protect her from a bear. He waits to hear her screams as it attacks her, but he never hears it. He lowers his hands to look at the bear and sees it returning Star's hug.

Marco's jaw drops and he rubs his eyes to make sure he isn't hallucinating, but sure enough, Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension who he is dating, is hugging a grizzly bear. That was the moment when Marco realized he had by far the weirdest life out of anyone else on Earth. "Why am I even surprised at this point?"

Star stops hugging the bear and bends down to pet the cubs, who lean into her hands just like a pet cat. "See? I told you Marco, they are just sweet fluffy animals. Aren't you, little guy?" Star ruffles the other cub's fur as she finishes her sentence. She continues to pet the bears as Marco looks on in shock. Star stops petting the bears and stands up. "I have to go make sure I didn't actually give my boyfriend a heart attack this time. Bye cuties!" Star waves to the bears as they start walking away. She skips back over to Marco and stops in front of him.

"You okay Marco?" She waits for a few seconds but doesn't receive a response. "Uhh, Marco?" She waves her hand in front of his eyes but to no avail. "Did I actually break you this time?" She tilts her head in confusion at Marco before an idea comes into her mind. She goes onto her tiptoes and leans forward, kissing Marco softly. The kiss only lasted for a second, but it was enough to snap Marco back into reality.

"What the heck, Star; you almost gave me a heart attack!" Marco frantically shakes his arms in the air.

"Awww, don't worry Marco, I'm okay." She hugs him to reassure him that she's okay and he gladly returns the embrace. "Oh, also the lake is right there." Star raises her finger and points at a cabin on the edge of a lake. A wide smile forms on Marco's face. He grabs Star's hand and begins going to the cabin

"Come on Star, you're gonna love this!" Together they run to the cabin hand in hand. When they enter the cabin they are met with a lady standing at a desk. Star looks around and examines the room. She notices life jackets in a box on the desk, fishing rods on one wall and three boats on the other wall. The last item makes Star incredibly excited, causing her to spin around to face Marco, a wide smile on her face.

"Are we gonna get a boat?" Star asks excitedly, while bouncing up and down on her feet.

"We're gonna get a boat!" Marco replies, matching Star's excitement. Star squeals with excitement as her and Marco approach the desk. "We would like to rent a boat for the next hour."

The lady gives them an unamused look, "I'm sorry but we are closed until next week." With that sentence the smile on Star's face disappears and was replaced with a saddened expression. Marco however was unfazed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a stack of $650. He slams the money onto the desk.

"We would like to rent a boat." The lady at the desk stares at the pile of money, mesmerized by it. She reaches for it tentatively, picking it up and putting it in her pocket.

"Just take one of the boats outside."

Star's face lights up again as she grabs Marco's hand before sprinting out to get a boat. "Thank you!" She shouts back to the lady, who doesn't notice as she is counting the money she has just received.

As they are running to a boat, Marco remembers something and stops. "Wait, Star, you go choose a boat, I'm gonna run back and get us life jackets." Star rolls her eyes at Marco.

"Whatever you say, safe kid." Star smirks at him after using the nickname. Marco groans at the comment but still runs back to get life jackets. When he returns to the boats he sees Star sitting in a boat, impatiently tapping her foot. The boat is painted to look like a narwhal, a horn sticking out of the front. Marco giggles at the sight. "Of course she chooses the narwhal boat." He smiles and jogs over to the boat.

"What took you so long, Marco?" Star asks while Marco hands her a life jacket, giving him an annoyed expression.

"What?! I was gone for like, one minute, tops." Marco refutes as he puts on his life jacket and starts pushing the boat into the water.

"Exactly." Marco tilts his head at Star, not understanding the problem but deciding not to press the issue further. The boat slides onto the water and starts floating away. Marco jumps onto the boat and lands flat on his back with a loud thud. "Weeeee!" Marco shakes his head to regain his barings and looks up, seeing Star standing at the edge of the boat, leaning on the horn. He smiles softly at the sight of Star having so much fun. Marco feels the boat slowing down and quickly grabs the oars and starts paddling.

"This is great, Marco." Star turns around and walks over to Marco, sitting in front of him. She leans forward and hugs him. "Thank you for taking me out here. I really needed this after what happened with Toffee." Marco releases the oars from his hands and returns the embrace, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"You're welcome, Star." Marco replies quietly, tightening his grip around her. After a few seconds Star pulls out of the embrace and grabs the collar of his hoodie with both hands. She pulls him into a soft kiss which he happily returns. Marco moves forward and wraps his arms around her waist softly. They tenderly moved their lips against each other, enjoying the soft embrace they are sharing. This kiss didn't feel intense or lustful, it was just about enjoying each other's company and being together.

When they release the kiss they keep their heads leaned against each other. They both smile softly as they stare into each other's eyes. Marco is the first to break the silence when he intertwined his fingers with Star's. "I love you, Star."

"I love you too, Marco." They stay like this for a few seconds before Star releases her hands from Marco's. Marco gives Star a confused look before being shoved into the water.

"AAAH-" Marco lands in the water, creating a sizeable splash. Star bursts out laughing as Marco floats back to the surface of the water. "Star, what did I tell you about wet socks?"

Star attempts to stifle her laugh and leans her head over the edge of the boat. "Awww, sorry Marco." Star says jokingly, obviously still enjoying the sight of Marco being drenched in water. Her enjoyment is interrupted as she feels something pulling on her wrists, forcing her into the water. She gasps as she swims out of the water and sees Marco still holding one of her wrists.

"Awww, sorry Star." Marco says before he starts laughing, mimicking what she said to him moments ago. Star smiles at Marco, despite having her clothes completely soaked, still enjoying the moment.

"You'll pay for that, Diaz!" Star splashes a wave of water towards Marco, putting an end to his laughter. Marco rubs his eyes to get some water out of them before giving Star a menacing glare.

"Oh, it's on now." Marco starts frantically splashing water towards Star, who responds with an onslaught of her own.

They continued to go to war against each other for hours, splashing around in the lake and occasionally resting on the boat. Their epic battle concluded at sunset when Marco yielded to Star, who wasn't showing any signs of getting tired. They decided to start heading back to the campground, so they returned the boat and started walking back to the tent.

"That was so fun, Marco! Especially the part where you gave up." Star grabbed Marco's hand as they continued to walk through the forest.

"Drats, beaten again." Marco jokes while giving Star a warm smile. His response causes Star to giggle in a way that Marco finds adorable.

They continue walking through the forest to their tent hand in hand, enjoying each other's company. Marco glances over at Star as they get close to their tent and sees her staring up into the sky with sparkling eyes.

"What are you looking at, Star?" Marco squeezes Star's hand to get her attention.

She continues to stare up at the sky as she responds to Marco. "Look at the stars. They're so pretty out here." Marco looked up at the stars only to look back at his Star a few seconds later and smiling softly at her.

"They're alright I guess, but they're nothing compared to my favorite Star." Marco continued to stare at Star with half lidded eyes and a soft smile.

Star turned her head to look at Marco, "Which one is tha-" Star pauses and blushes a deep red as she realizes what he meant. "Awwww, Marco, you goof!" She leans forward and kisses him softly. "Thanks Marco." She smiles brightly at him and they continue walking to the tent.

"Star, the tent is right there." She sees Marco pointing to his left and her gaze follows the direction of his finger. She sees the tent with all of their stuff laying outside of it and chuckles in embarrassment.

"Oh, oops, hehe."

Star releases Marco's hand and skips over to the tent before diving into it. Marco chuckles at the sight before joining her in the tent. He sees Star is already curled up in the blanket with both of their pillows under her head. "Okay, Star, the rules of the tent specifically state that no one person can have possession of more than one pillow at a time." Marco pulls one of the pillows from below Star's head and places it next to her so he can lie down. He lies down on his pillow and grabs the blanket. "And no blanket hogs." Marco tugs on the blanket, unravelling it so he can have half.

Star giggles. "Awww, fine." She settles under her portion of the blanket before scooting closer to Marco and leaning on his chest. Marco looks down as Star nuzzles into his chest, and he smiles warmly at her and wraps his arms around her.

"Goodnight, Star," he says as he closes his eyes.

Star sighs contently and closes her eyes. "Goodnight, Marco."

Marco lays there, drifting off to sleep as he enjoys the comfort he gets from having Star in his arms. As he drifts off he smiles at the memories of the day they just shared, and all the fun they had. Marco is just about to fall asleep before he is abruptly woken up by Star's voice.

"Marco?" He turns his head down and sees Star looking up at him.

"Yeah Star?"

"Thank you, today was awesome." She leans closer to his face slightly, not enough for Marco to notice.

"You don't need to thank me Star, I had tons of fun too." He smiles widely at Star and gets ready to fall asleep again, but as he is closing his eyes he notices Star leaning towards his face. Their lips are only an inch apart and Marco can feel the heat radiating off of Star's face. "Star?"

She doesn't answer him and presses her lips against his softly. Despite wanting to sleep, Marco returns the kiss and pulls Star closer to him. It doesn't take long for the kiss to get more intimate, as Star uses one hand to pull Marco closer by his hoodie and the other hand buries itself in his hair. He still can't get over the feeling of Star's hand tugging on his hair, making him pull her even closer to him. Marco feels a familiar sensation on his lip as Star bites down on it and tugs on it slightly.

Star releases the kiss and swings herself on top of him quickly, one leg on either of his sides. Before Marco can react to the action Star forces her lips against his again. He hesitates for a second before he continues to kiss her passionately. He feels Star's lips parting more as the kiss progresses and decides to pay her back for what she did a few minutes ago. Marco opens his mouth and gently bites down on Star's lip, tugging on it slightly. He was caught by surprise when he heard a soft moan escape from Star's mouth. He smiles slightly at it, knowing that means he did a good job. He releases his teeth and kisses her again, missing the feeling of her soft lips against his.

Star was completely caught off guard by Marco's sudden burst of confidence. She was still slightly embarrassed that she moaned but was too distracted by the kiss to care. She continues kissing Marco and decides to try something different. When she feels Marco's mouth part open slightly she slowly slides her tongue into his mouth. She feels him tense up after the action but he quickly calms down again much to Star's delight, as she feels Marco start moving his tongue against hers. It was a new feeling, but not one that Star was opposed to. Star and Marco's tongues dance against each other, both teens savoring the new sensation. Eventually Star pulls back from the kiss, realizing she was running out of air, and Marco probably was too. They stare into each other's eyes as they regain their breath.

"I love you Marco." She leans forward and plants another soft kiss on Marco's lips before laying her head on his chest again, falling asleep while still lying on him.

"I love you too, Star." Marco smiles warmly at Star who is almost completely asleep already, but he still notices the smile coming onto her face from what he said.

The two teens drift off to sleep together, feeling completely at peace lying there together. Despite the danger that they were faced with because of Toffee, in that moment, they couldn't be happier.


	12. Chapter 12

"Bye kids, have fun!" Mr. Diaz waves to the two teens as he drives off, leaving them alone together in the forest.

"Byeeee!" Star waves energetically back at Mr. Diaz, wearing a bright smile on her face.

Marco reaches his hand out and places it on Star's shoulder. "Come on Star, let's go set up camp." Star nods at Marco and they walk over to where they left their equipment.

When they reach their stuff, Marco picks up his tent. "Star, do you need me to help you set up your tent?"

"Psshh, Marco, I went camping on Mewni all the time, I'm pretty sure I can handle this," Star says as she unravels her tent.

"Okay, if you're sure." Marco rolls his eyes, obviously not convinced that she can handle it.

After a few minutes, Marco had set up his tent and a chair outside it. He looked over the fruits of his labor from a distance before nodding contently and sitting down in the chair. He watches as Star struggles with the poles for her tent and giggles to himself. He starts getting up to help her but remembers what she said. 'Maybe I'll just let her try for a few more minutes; she did say she could handle it.' Marco lays back down in his chair and enjoys the show.

A few minutes go by and Star throws the equipment to the ground. "Ugh, this is impossible!"

When Marco hears Star's sudden outburst, he lets a smug smile come onto his face. "I thought you said you could handle it?" Star looks over at Marco and gives him an annoyed glare which knocks the smile off of his face immediately. "You know, you could just, uhh… staywithmeinmytent." Marco mutters the last part under his breath.

Star tilts her head at Marco. "What was that last part?"

Marco breathes in deeply. "I said you could sleep in my tent… with me… if you want…"

Star's face lights up when she hears Marco's offer. She gets up and walks over to him. "Awwww, really?"

"Y-yeah, of course you can if you want." Marco rubs the back of his head and chuckles nervously.

"Thanks Marco, huuuggs." Star wraps her arms around Marco and he gladly returns the embrace. When they break the hug, Marco keeps his arms partially wrapped around Star's waist. They look deeply into each other's eyes and Marco starts to lean forward and close his eyes. He waits in anticipation for that warm sensation to come over his body once again, but it never comes, instead he feels a sharp pain in his right shoulder.

His eyes shoot open and he sees that Star had punched him in the shoulder. "Owwww, what was that for?" Marco grabs his shoulder and rubs it gently.

"For letting me try to set up that tent, FOR THIRTY MINUTES, before finally saying I could stay with you."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry… It was just so funny." Marco says before he starts laughing.

Star crosses her arms and looks away. "Hmph." Marco sees that she is getting annoyed and walks in front of her. He leans forward and gently kisses her lips. She wraps her arms around his neck and leans into him. Marco pulls away from the kiss and looks at Star.

"Sorry I upset you, Star." Marco looks at Star apologetically. Star frowns at Marco. "Does that mean I'm not forgiven?"

She smirks at him and puts her hands in his hair. "Not yet." Before Marco can apologize again, Star jumps onto Marco and pushes her lips against his. Marco nearly loses his footing from the sudden weight pushing him back, but he manages to stay standing. He tightens his grip around her waist and kisses her back. This kiss felt different from the last ones that they shared, it felt more passionate and lustful. The sensation of Star's fingers running through his hair is making Marco feel like he is about to explode. Marco felt Star's teeth bite down on his lip and it drove him mad. He wished it could last longer but Star pulled back from the kiss and released her teeth.

Star saw the dazed look in Marco's eyes and gave him a giddy smile. "Come on Marco, show me what Earth camping is all about."

As Star started walking off into the forest, Marco blinked a few times to help himself refocus and then quickly jogged up to Star. "Well, there's this really amazing lake nearby, we could go there if you want?"

Star turns and smiles at Marco. "That sounds great, Marco. How far away is the lake?"

"It's just a few minutes this way." Marco points forward into the forest.

"Okay, let's go there then." They continue walking forward to the lake that Marco talked about until Star gets an idea. She looks at Marco and smiles deviously. "Hey Marco."

Marco starts turning his head to look at Star. "Yeah, St-"

"TAG!" Star shoves Marco and starts running in the direction of the lake.

"Hey, no fair!" Marco sees Star running through the forest giggling causing him to sigh contently. "You can't run forever, Butterfly!" He starts running in the same direction he saw Star going. Marco can't see any sign of Star so he keeps running until he hears a familiar voice behind him.

"Hey, Marcoooo!" He stops running and turns around quickly only to see Star dangling by her legs from a tree, he hair hanging from her head and swaying with the wind.

"How- You know what, I'm not even gonna ask." Marco's response causes Star to giggle. He begins attempting to climb the tree to get to Star. Star watches as he struggles to climb the tree, enjoying the entertainment he is providing.

When Marco eventually reaches the branch that Star is hanging from, she swings her legs off the branch and lands perfectly on the floor.

"Bye Marco!" Star waves enthusiastically to Marco before running towards the lake again. Marco stares at her running off into the distance again.

"How does she do this?!" Marco cautiously makes his way back down the tree and starts running after Star again.

After a minute of running, Star decides to sit down on a rock and wait so she doesn't lose Marco. She shoots up off the rock quickly when she hears a ruffling sound coming from the bushes. She carefully approaches the bush, wary of the fact she doesn't have a wand to protect herself from Ludo. "Marco?" Star stops a few feet before the bush and gets ready to fight whatever is behind it. Her fears are quenched when Marco jumps out from the bush and tackles her to the ground, putting his hand behind her head to make sure she doesn't get hurt.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Marco proudly boasts that he managed to catch Star.

Star smiles at Marco. "And I," she wraps her arms and legs around him, pulling him down towards her, "got you." She giggles at her own actions while enjoying the warmth that Marco's body is emitting.

Marco pulls his head back and smiles at Star. "I wouldn't want it any other way." Star blushes at Marco's response and smiles softly at him. Marco starts leaning forward and so does Star. As their lips are about to touch, Star suddenly rolls over so that she is on top of Marco and raises her fists into the air.

"Aha! I have conquered this mighty warrior!"

"Darn, fooled again by Princess Butterfly." Star smiles softly at Marco and he returns the smile. She wraps her arms around his neck and lies down on him, laying her head on his chest.

"Awww poor Marco, this must be so awful." Star teases. Marco wraps his arms around Star's back, pulling her closer to him.

"Somehow it isn't actually that bad." Marco and Star both chuckle before fully melting into the embrace.

They lie there for a few minutes before Star's head shoots up and she gasps. "What is it Star?"

"Look, it's so adorable! Awww." Marco rolls his head back to see what Star is looking at, only to see a grizzly bear with two cubs staring right back at them. His pupils contract as he sees the menacing animal looking at them. Marco carefully gets up and grabs Star's hand. "Star, that's a grizzly bear. I need you to listen to me and back away from it, slowly."

Star pulls her hand out of Marco's grip and turns around to face him. "But why, Marco? They're so cute. Look at the wittle babies." Star says the last sentence in a babyish voice while making faces at the cubs.

"Star those bears are really dangerous; please just do what I say." Marco pleads with Star who is still making faces at the cubs.

"I'm gonna go say hi."

Marco's eyes go wide and he attempts to wrap his arms around her to stop her, but she ducks out of the way and runs over to the bears. "No, Star!"

Star reaches the bears and turns around to face Marco. "Don't worry Marco, I got this." She turns back to the bears and spreads her arms out wide to hug the grown up bear. The bear stands up on its hind legs and raises an arm ready to swipe at Star. Marco covers his eyes and feels the tears building in them, knowing what is going to happen to Star; knowing he is powerless to protect her from a bear. He waits to hear her screams as it attacks her, but he never hears it. He lowers his hands to look at the bear and sees it returning Star's hug.

Marco's jaw drops and he rubs his eyes to make sure he isn't hallucinating, but sure enough, Star Butterfly, a magical princess from another dimension who he is dating, is hugging a grizzly bear. That was the moment when Marco realized he had by far the weirdest life out of anyone else on Earth. "Why am I even surprised at this point?"

Star stops hugging the bear and bends down to pet the cubs, who lean into her hands just like a pet cat. "See? I told you Marco, they are just sweet fluffy animals. Aren't you, little guy?" Star ruffles the other cub's fur as she finishes her sentence. She continues to pet the bears as Marco looks on in shock. Star stops petting the bears and stands up. "I have to go make sure I didn't actually give my boyfriend a heart attack this time. Bye cuties!" Star waves to the bears as they start walking away. She skips back over to Marco and stops in front of him.

"You okay Marco?" She waits for a few seconds but doesn't receive a response. "Uhh, Marco?" She waves her hand in front of his eyes but to no avail. "Did I actually break you this time?" She tilts her head in confusion at Marco before an idea comes into her mind. She goes onto her tiptoes and leans forward, kissing Marco softly. The kiss only lasted for a second, but it was enough to snap Marco back into reality.

"What the heck, Star; you almost gave me a heart attack!" Marco frantically shakes his arms in the air.

"Awww, don't worry Marco, I'm okay." She hugs him to reassure him that she's okay and he gladly returns the embrace. "Oh, also the lake is right there." Star raises her finger and points at a cabin on the edge of a lake. A wide smile forms on Marco's face. He grabs Star's hand and begins going to the cabin

"Come on Star, you're gonna love this!" Together they run to the cabin hand in hand. When they enter the cabin they are met with a lady standing at a desk. Star looks around and examines the room. She notices life jackets in a box on the desk, fishing rods on one wall and three boats on the other wall. The last item makes Star incredibly excited, causing her to spin around to face Marco, a wide smile on her face.

"Are we gonna get a boat?" Star asks excitedly, while bouncing up and down on her feet.

"We're gonna get a boat!" Marco replies, matching Star's excitement. Star squeals with excitement as her and Marco approach the desk. "We would like to rent a boat for the next hour."

The lady gives them an unamused look, "I'm sorry but we are closed until next week." With that sentence the smile on Star's face disappears and was replaced with a saddened expression. Marco however was unfazed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a stack of $650. He slams the money onto the desk.

"We would like to rent a boat." The lady at the desk stares at the pile of money, mesmerized by it. She reaches for it tentatively, picking it up and putting it in her pocket.

"Just take one of the boats outside."

Star's face lights up again as she grabs Marco's hand before sprinting out to get a boat. "Thank you!" She shouts back to the lady, who doesn't notice as she is counting the money she has just received.

As they are running to a boat, Marco remembers something and stops. "Wait, Star, you go choose a boat, I'm gonna run back and get us life jackets." Star rolls her eyes at Marco.

"Whatever you say, safe kid." Star smirks at him after using the nickname. Marco groans at the comment but still runs back to get life jackets. When he returns to the boats he sees Star sitting in a boat, impatiently tapping her foot. The boat is painted to look like a narwhal, a horn sticking out of the front. Marco giggles at the sight. "Of course she chooses the narwhal boat." He smiles and jogs over to the boat.

"What took you so long, Marco?" Star asks while Marco hands her a life jacket, giving him an annoyed expression.

"What?! I was gone for like, one minute, tops." Marco refutes as he puts on his life jacket and starts pushing the boat into the water.

"Exactly." Marco tilts his head at Star, not understanding the problem but deciding not to press the issue further. The boat slides onto the water and starts floating away. Marco jumps onto the boat and lands flat on his back with a loud thud. "Weeeee!" Marco shakes his head to regain his barings and looks up, seeing Star standing at the edge of the boat, leaning on the horn. He smiles softly at the sight of Star having so much fun. Marco feels the boat slowing down and quickly grabs the oars and starts paddling.

"This is great, Marco." Star turns around and walks over to Marco, sitting in front of him. She leans forward and hugs him. "Thank you for taking me out here. I really needed this after what happened with Toffee." Marco releases the oars from his hands and returns the embrace, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"You're welcome, Star." Marco replies quietly, tightening his grip around her. After a few seconds Star pulls out of the embrace and grabs the collar of his hoodie with both hands. She pulls him into a soft kiss which he happily returns. Marco moves forward and wraps his arms around her waist softly. They tenderly moved their lips against each other, enjoying the soft embrace they are sharing. This kiss didn't feel intense or lustful, it was just about enjoying each other's company and being together.

When they release the kiss they keep their heads leaned against each other. They both smile softly as they stare into each other's eyes. Marco is the first to break the silence when he intertwined his fingers with Star's. "I love you, Star."

"I love you too, Marco." They stay like this for a few seconds before Star releases her hands from Marco's. Marco gives Star a confused look before being shoved into the water.

"AAAH-" Marco lands in the water, creating a sizeable splash. Star bursts out laughing as Marco floats back to the surface of the water. "Star, what did I tell you about wet socks?"

Star attempts to stifle her laugh and leans her head over the edge of the boat. "Awww, sorry Marco." Star says jokingly, obviously still enjoying the sight of Marco being drenched in water. Her enjoyment is interrupted as she feels something pulling on her wrists, forcing her into the water. She gasps as she swims out of the water and sees Marco still holding one of her wrists.

"Awww, sorry Star." Marco says before he starts laughing, mimicking what she said to him moments ago. Star smiles at Marco, despite having her clothes completely soaked, still enjoying the moment.

"You'll pay for that, Diaz!" Star splashes a wave of water towards Marco, putting an end to his laughter. Marco rubs his eyes to get some water out of them before giving Star a menacing glare.

"Oh, it's on now." Marco starts frantically splashing water towards Star, who responds with an onslaught of her own.

They continued to go to war against each other for hours, splashing around in the lake and occasionally resting on the boat. Their epic battle concluded at sunset when Marco yielded to Star, who wasn't showing any signs of getting tired. They decided to start heading back to the campground, so they returned the boat and started walking back to the tent.

"That was so fun, Marco! Especially the part where you gave up." Star grabbed Marco's hand as they continued to walk through the forest.

"Drats, beaten again." Marco jokes while giving Star a warm smile. His response causes Star to giggle in a way that Marco finds adorable.

They continue walking through the forest to their tent hand in hand, enjoying each other's company. Marco glances over at Star as they get close to their tent and sees her staring up into the sky with sparkling eyes.

"What are you looking at, Star?" Marco squeezes Star's hand to get her attention.

She continues to stare up at the sky as she responds to Marco. "Look at the stars. They're so pretty out here." Marco looked up at the stars only to look back at his Star a few seconds later and smiling softly at her.

"They're alright I guess, but they're nothing compared to my favorite Star." Marco continued to stare at Star with half lidded eyes and a soft smile.

Star turned her head to look at Marco, "Which one is tha-" Star pauses and blushes a deep red as she realizes what he meant. "Awwww, Marco, you goof!" She leans forward and kisses him softly. "Thanks Marco." She smiles brightly at him and they continue walking to the tent.

"Star, the tent is right there." She sees Marco pointing to his left and her gaze follows the direction of his finger. She sees the tent with all of their stuff laying outside of it and chuckles in embarrassment.

"Oh, oops, hehe."

Star releases Marco's hand and skips over to the tent before diving into it. Marco chuckles at the sight before joining her in the tent. He sees Star is already curled up in the blanket with both of their pillows under her head. "Okay, Star, the rules of the tent specifically state that no one person can have possession of more than one pillow at a time." Marco pulls one of the pillows from below Star's head and places it next to her so he can lie down. He lies down on his pillow and grabs the blanket. "And no blanket hogs." Marco tugs on the blanket, unravelling it so he can have half.

Star giggles. "Awww, fine." She settles under her portion of the blanket before scooting closer to Marco and leaning on his chest. Marco looks down as Star nuzzles into his chest, and he smiles warmly at her and wraps his arms around her.

"Goodnight, Star," he says as he closes his eyes.

Star sighs contently and closes her eyes. "Goodnight, Marco."

Marco lays there, drifting off to sleep as he enjoys the comfort he gets from having Star in his arms. As he drifts off he smiles at the memories of the day they just shared, and all the fun they had. Marco is just about to fall asleep before he is abruptly woken up by Star's voice.

"Marco?" He turns his head down and sees Star looking up at him.

"Yeah Star?"

"Thank you, today was awesome." She leans closer to his face slightly, not enough for Marco to notice.

"You don't need to thank me Star, I had tons of fun too." He smiles widely at Star and gets ready to fall asleep again, but as he is closing his eyes he notices Star leaning towards his face. Their lips are only an inch apart and Marco can feel the heat radiating off of Star's face. "Star?"

She doesn't answer him and presses her lips against his softly. Despite wanting to sleep, Marco returns the kiss and pulls Star closer to him. It doesn't take long for the kiss to get more intimate, as Star uses one hand to pull Marco closer by his hoodie and the other hand buries itself in his hair. He still can't get over the feeling of Star's hand tugging on his hair, making him pull her even closer to him. Marco feels a familiar sensation on his lip as Star bites down on it and tugs on it slightly.

Star releases the kiss and swings herself on top of him quickly, one leg on either of his sides. Before Marco can react to the action Star forces her lips against his again. He hesitates for a second before he continues to kiss her passionately. He feels Star's lips parting more as the kiss progresses and decides to pay her back for what she did a few minutes ago. Marco opens his mouth and gently bites down on Star's lip, tugging on it slightly. He was caught by surprise when he heard a soft moan escape from Star's mouth. He smiles slightly at it, knowing that means he did a good job. He releases his teeth and kisses her again, missing the feeling of her soft lips against his.

Star was completely caught off guard by Marco's sudden burst of confidence. She was still slightly embarrassed that she moaned but was too distracted by the kiss to care. She continues kissing Marco and decides to try something different. When she feels Marco's mouth part open slightly she slowly slides her tongue into his mouth. She feels him tense up after the action but he quickly calms down again much to Star's delight, as she feels Marco start moving his tongue against hers. It was a new feeling, but not one that Star was opposed to. Star and Marco's tongues dance against each other, both teens savoring the new sensation. Eventually Star pulls back from the kiss, realizing she was running out of air, and Marco probably was too. They stare into each other's eyes as they regain their breath.

"I love you Marco." She leans forward and plants another soft kiss on Marco's lips before laying her head on his chest again, falling asleep while still lying on him.

"I love you too, Star." Marco smiles warmly at Star who is almost completely asleep already, but he still notices the smile coming onto her face from what he said.

The two teens drift off to sleep together, feeling completely at peace lying there together. Despite the danger that they were faced with because of Toffee, in that moment, they couldn't be happier.


	13. Chapter 13

Authors Note:

If you're interested in what fanfictions I'll be writing after this one, I have just updated my profile with two stories I plan on writing after I finish Together We Fall. Hope you are interested in them because I can't wait to write them. Also this story isn't ending anytime soon, I just wanted to announce these two.

Moon's eyes flutter open slowly, she tries to move her arm to rub her eyes but realizes that it's chained to a wooden block on the ground. She groggily turns her head to look around the dimly lit room. She the walls are made of cloth and a curtain of skulls in front of her. Instantly it clicked that she was in Toffee's tent from back when he led the monster army. She quickly looked to the corner of the room to see Toffee sitting in a chair, looking at her. "You're awake, good, I was starting to think he had killed you already." Toffee stands up and drags his chair so that he is seated right in front of Moon.

"Toffee." Moon says coldly, glaring at him, "Why have you returned? I defeated you." Toffee looks at her and chuckles slightly.

"Is that what you think, you think you defeated me?" Toffee lifts his hand in front of his face, revealing that he has his finger back, "You were merely a minor inconvenience to my plan."

Moon gasps at the sight of Toffee's finger, "How did you get your finger back, it should be destroyed." Moon's tone shifts to one of anger and annoyance. Up until this point she had believed she had thwarted Toffee, scared him off and he would never return. Even after Star told her about his attack, she believed Toffee had learned not to mess with the kingdom any more.

"You're daughter was quite helpful with that, leaving my finger unguarded in a closet made it very easy to access."

When Moon hears Toffee mention Star panic starts to set in, "What did you do to my daughter!" Her hand starts to glow blue but it stops shortly after as the chains on her wrists seem to absorb it, glowing blue like her hands. "Huh?"

"Those chains absorb any magic that is cast by anyone who is bound by them, that won't work. As for what I did to your daughter, I merely sent her a message to stay out of our way." Rage builds within Moon at the implications of his words. She stands up and struggles to pull out of the chains.

"Don't touch my daughter!" Toffee looks at her with his normal unamused expression and remains in his seat, at a perfect distance so that she can't kick him.

"I wouldn't be worried about her right now, you have a lot more to be worrying about."

After struggling for a bit more, Moon needs to catch her breath so she stops struggling against the chains. "Why have you returned? What do you want from my family?"

"I want the same thing that I've always wanted, to show the mewmans that us monsters will not be pushed around by your magic any longer."

"You filthy monsters attack our children and steal our corn, you deserve every bit of magic you're hit with." Toffee snarls at this, disgusted that mewmans see all monsters in this way.

Toffee stands up and walks to the curtain, turning back around to look at Moon, "You mewmans attack any monsters you see for no reason, but not for any longer, we will send a message to all of you, one that will teach you an important lesson." Toffee turns around and starts to exit the room, stopping when he hears Moons voice.

"So that's it, what are you just going to kill me like you killed my mother." Toffee hears the end of what she says and smirks as he walks out of the room. He is quickly replaced by the large monster that is wearing a robe who lets out a low chuckle that makes Moon tremble slightly.

"He didn't kill your mother, and he's not the one that's going to kill you." The monster picks up the gauntlet on the floor and puts it on his hand. Moon sees the gauntlet and notices it is covered in blood and it has symbols sticking out across all of it's knuckles, she recognizes it as mewman writing meaning, "Justice". Her eyes widen as she recognizes the words from before… she recognizes it from when she was allowed to see her mother's body. She was covered in the word, all over her body it was dug into her skin and that's when it clicked with Moon, that was the gauntlet used to kill her mother, and this monster was about to use it to kill her.

"No," Moon mutters as she processes the information. Her thoughts are cut off as the monster raises his foot and kicks Moon, knocking her through the wooden box and into the back wall of the tent which has several headless skeletons laid out across it. She realized this isn't Toffee's tent, it's the tnet where they execute their enemies. Without the shackles connected to the box she raises her hand and attempts to use magic, hoping the box is what drained it. To her delight a beam of magic shot out of her hand and blasts the monster in the shoulder, burning part of his robe off but not fazing him. He continues to march towards Moon and he raises his gauntlet when he gets near. Moon charges a blast in both of her hands and releases it. It hits the monster straight in the face, burning off the robe, revealing the monster's identity. She gasps, seeing that he was unfazed by such a powerful blast. She sees his face and recognizes it from somewhere, as she is backing away and dodging strikes from the monster it clicks in her mind who it is causing her eyes to go wide.

"Se-" She was cut off when he strikes her in the jaw with his free hand. Moon hits the ground hard and groggily looks around the room trying to refocus. She looks up and sees the gauntlet being raised over her head, she raises her hands to block it but to no avail. The monster reigns strikes down on her in the corner of the room. She lets out screams of pain when the gauntlet connects. Strike after strike Moon tries to roll out of the way but is too weakened, feeling the symbols go through her skin with every strike. She starts feeling herself fade away, she tries to hold on but realizes she isn't getting out of this. The monster raises the gauntlet over his shoulder ready to hit her in the face with it.

She manages to choke out one last word before passing out, "S-star…" With this the monster cackles maniacally, "I'll kill her too!" he shouts and hit her in the face with the gauntlet repeatedly while still laughing. The monster doesn't stop and continues to hit her for another minute before stopping and lifting the gauntlet to his face, seeing the fresh blood covering it makes him smile widely. The job is done.

A few hours later

A waricorn dragging a large casket behind it approaches butterfly castle. It kicks the door to the castle three times, getting the attention of those inside. King River quickly opens the door and without paying attention asks, "Have you found my Moonpie yet?" He looks at the warnicorn with tired bloodshot eyes. "Oh it's just a dumb horse." River turns away and walks back into the castle slowly. The horse neighs at River, turning around to reveal the casket. River turns around, "What do you want you you stupid horse!" River snaps at the warnicorn, he doesn't have time for this, he has to find Moon. But when he turns around the rage he had just moments before, was replaced with terror and sadness. He rushes over to the casket and sees Moon laying in it, lifeless. She was covered in a mewman text that he didn't bother to read. He saw the blood over her and all the bruises on her. He collapses to his knees and puts his head on the casket, screaming out her name. He starts crying profusely as guards approach and see the casket, they gasp before backing away to give the king a moment. River sits there and cries, not for the kingdom because their queen is gone, but because the person he loves is gone and there's no bringing her back. He doesn't notice but on the side of the casket there is a message reading, "This is only the beginning".


	14. Chapter 14

"Thanks for driving us back, dad," Star, Marco and his father are all standing outside of their house after just arriving back from the campground.

"No worries, son, how was the trip?" Marco gets ready to answer but he is interrupted by Star's voice.

"Come on, Marco! I can get my wand back now, let's go!" Star begins tugging on the sleeve of Marco's hoodie trying to drag him in the direction of the door. Marco looks up at his father who is chuckling and gesturing for him to go with Star.

Star rushes through the door, dragging Marco behind her, but stopping when she sees something very unexpected behind the door. She sees Ms. Diaz and her father sitting on the couch, wearing saddened expressions on their faces.

Star releases Marco and runs over to her dad, trapping him in a tight hug, "Papa!" River returns the hug but with less enthusiasm than Star would have liked, raising some suspicion in her.

"Hello, sweetie," River grabs Star's shoulders and pushes her back gently, giving her a serious look. Star's excitement quickly drops when she sees the look on his face, he very rarely has an expression like that, but when he does, it isn't a good sign. "I'm sorry, Marco, Mr and Ms. Diaz, could you give us a minute."

Marco was ready to protest his request but his mother put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a look that showed him that whatever this was, it was better he wasn't there. Together the Diaz's walk up the stairs and decide to wait in Marco's room.

"What's wrong, Dad?" she asks him, tilting her head to the side slightly. King River sits back down on the couch and pats the spot next to him, ushering Star to join him.

River takes a breath to prepare himself for what he has to do and then, after what feels like hours to Star, he speaks, "Star, before I tell you this I must ask you to wait until I've finished talking before you respond, a lot has changed in mewni." Star nods slowly, getting increasingly worried but also curious as the seconds go by.

"Okay, Star, I-I'm sorry I have to tell you this b-but your m-m-mother… s-she…" River starts tearing up, causing Star to start fearing for the worst, slowly putting the pieces together. River regains his composure as best he can and continues, "Y-your mother was m-murdered, Toffee kidnapped her from the castle a-and her body a-arrived at the castle a day later…" River looks down, trying to hide the tears forming in his eyes, trying to be strong for his daughter.

Star's world shattered as she heard the words leave his mouth, she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't believe it, there was no way her mother had been killed, she was too strong. But Star knew it was true, she knew from how her father spoke, she saw the heartbreak in his eyes. Everything was so good yesterday, she just wished she could always have days like that, where she was having fun, splashing around in the lake with Marco, not dealing with things like this. She broke down, she crumpled against her father's shoulder, forcing her eyes shut against him, crying her eyes out. River turned around and hugged her to comfort her, but also to comfort himself.

They stayed there for a few minutes, but River had to end the embrace despite knowing Star still needed it, he still had things he needed to tell her. He gave her a somber look with tears still leaking out of his eyes. "I'm sorry I have to do this Star, I-I don't want to do this to you but I have to. I know this is a lot to take in, but as you k-know, mewni needs to have at least one magical member of the royal family present, and because M-Moon has… passed, that means you must return, Mewni needs a protector, you will not take the mantle of queen yet, but you can't stay here, I'm so sorry Star." Star felt the world collapsing around her, everything was so perfect just a day ago and now it's all gone wrong. She lost her mother and now she has to lose all of her friends here, she has to lose Marco. Star couldn't take it anymore, she leapt off of the couch and sprinted up to her room, crying profusely as she ran.

Marco saw Star run past his room crying and he quickly got up off of his bed and tried running after her. "Star! What happened? What did River say?" She didn't answer him, she didn't even look back at him. She ran into her room and slammed her back against the door, jamming it shut so no one would disturb her.

Marco ran up to the door, he heard her soft whimpers on the other side of the door, each one sending another dagger through his heart. He raises his fist to knock on the door but is stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Marco, wait," he turned his head to see his mother there and was met with the same look she gave him earlier. "Just give her some time, okay. You can go talk to her later."

He hesitates, still wanting to talk to Star, to comfort her, no matter what happened. But he knows his mom is right, he lowers his hand and walks back to his room, flopping onto the bed, just waiting for Star to come out so they can talk.

He waited for hours, walking up to her door and listening to her occasionally, checking to see if she was okay. He decided not to go in, he would wait until she was ready to come out. Still disappointed he couldn't talk to Star, he made his way to the stairs and started walking down them. He stopped when he heard his parents, sounding sad talking to river. He didn't like eavesdropping but he had to know what was wrong so he crouched down on the stairs and listened.

Marco sat there for a few minutes, getting bits and pieces of their conversation but nothing to go off of. He was getting ready to give up and go to his room until he heard River say something that broke him to pieces. River, still using a soft and sad tone, telling his parents, "I'll send someone to pick her up in two days, he makes her so happy, I want her to have one more day with him…"

When Marco heard that he had no control over what happened to him, his legs automatically started sprinting back up the stairs and to Star's room. He knocked on the door urgently, probably a little harder than he should have but he didn't care, he was too focussed, he had to get in there. Never putting a stop to the knocking on her door, he desperatley called out to her, "Star! Please let me in!" After a few more seconds of his rapid knocking, he could hear someone rattling the door knob. He stopped knocking and waited for the door to open. Seconds later but what felt like years to Marco, the door creaked open slightly, just enough to let him know he can come in, so he did.

He walked into the room and looked to his right, seeing Star, her arms folded tightly around her abdomen, as if she were trying to hug herself and her head tilted away from Marco, not wanting to meet his gaze. Even then, he could see her eyes were red and puffy, he could still see the wet lines running down the side of her face. After what Marco heard downstairs he had so many questions he wanted to get off of his chest, so many concerns that he wanted to talk to her about, but when he saw her like that, broken and scared, all of the questions were pushed to the back of his mind, replaced with the urge to comfort her. He walked towards her slowly and tightly wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her towards him. Instantly the feeling she got from being in Marco's arms made her feel safe, so she let out all of her sadness. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his hoodie, crying against it, knowing she was safe with him. It hurt Marco to hear her cry like this, he wanted to help more but right now he was doing all he can.

After a few minutes of them standing there together, not saying a word, Marco released her from the hug, but made sure to hold onto her hands so she would know he isn't going anywhere. He led her over to the bed so they could sit down to talk. He got ready to sit down but Star jumped on him, tackling him onto the bed. She wrapped her arms around him again, even tighter this time if possible and nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck. She wasn't crying anymore, but Marco could tell she still wasn't ready to talk about it. So he wrapped his arms around her and lay there, letting her rest as much as she needed. Eventually to his surprise she fell asleep. It was only 5 PM, but she had a long day so Marco understood why she fell asleep so soon. He was disappointed he didn't get to ask her, but he didn't want to disturb her rest so he decided to wait until tomorrow. He looked down at her, sleeping in his arms, "I promise I'll get you through this, no matter what." Marco leaned forward and planted a kiss on Star's forehead, before resting and falling asleep next to her.


	15. Chapter 15

Marco wakes up and looks around slowly, realizing he was in Star's room. Quickly he remembers why he was in her room, causing his head to snap down, looking for Star on the bed. When he sees that she isn't where she was last night, he snaps up off the bed, worried about Star after what happened yesterday. Desperately he looks around the room, stopping when he sees Star sitting in a chair against the wall, looking down at her lap. He quickly relaxes and sits back down on the bed. "Hey, Star."

Star's head turns up to look at him, "Oh, hey Marco… I brought you some food if you're hungry…" Marco can still hear the sadness in her voice, her eyes looked almost lifeless when she looked up at him. She reached to her side and picked up a plate that had some bacon and waffles on it, handing it to Marco. Marco got up off the bed and walked over to Star, taking the plate and putting it on a bench nearby. He kneeled down to Star's level and looked into her eyes, the sadness in her eyes much more evident when he was this close. At this distance he was able to see the remnants of tears, she must've been crying before he woke up.

Star looked away from Marco, not wanting him to see her like this. He leans forward and pulls her into a tight hug, catching her off guard. Just like last night, being in his arms made everything pour out of her. She gripped the back of his hoodie tightly and started whimpering softly against his shoulder. He couldn't stand the sound of Star crying, instinctively he wrapped his arms around her tighter, hoping to calm her down. The warmth that Marco was emitting was so soothing to her, she could sit there like that forever and it would still feel just as good. Despite everything that had happened, the feeling of being in Marco's arms was eventually enough to calm her down. She realized how hard she was gripping Marco's hoodie and out of fear of damaging it she moved her hands. She wrapped one arm around his back and the other tightly around his neck, pulling his head close to hers.

When Star had calmed down, she remembered that Marco probably had no idea what was going on and decided she owed him an explanation. She moved her eyes off of his shoulder and instead rested her chin against it, leaning her head against his. Comfortable in the new position they were in she decided to explain to him what was going on, "I-I'm sorry Marco… some stuff j-just happened on m-mewni a-and I'm gonna have to go back, probably forever…" Just saying it was enough to bring all the sadness back, she wrapped her arm tighter around his neck and tears started welling up in her eyes.

Marco hated hearing her say it, even though he knew what was happening because of River, he still had trouble hearing it from Star. He wanted to ask her why she had to leave, but first he decided to give her a moment to recover, knowing how hard this must be for her. When he feels her relax her grip around his neck, he decides to ask her what's going on. "Star… why do you have to go back? Up until yesterday we thought you would be here for years…"

Marco felt her tense up as he asked what happened, making him worry more about what could've happened that's so terrible. Despite the pain she was feeling in her heart, even thinking about the cause of all this, she owed Marco an answer, so she would give him one. "It's T-Toffee… he… he…" Star's breath quickens, sharply inhaling every few seconds as she begins to sob again. "That awful monster killed my mother!" Star finally says, anger and sadness present in her voice. The tears start rushing out of her eyes profusely, just like the day prior.

Marco gasps hearing what Toffee did, tears starting to form in his own eyes, horrified by Toffee's actions. He can't imagine the pain Star is feeling, he is enraged by what Toffee did, making him regret not fighting Toffee at their last encounter. Marco places one of his hands against the back of Star's head and starts stroking her hair, remembering how much she usually enjoys it. Together they sit there grieving, getting Marco processing the information he just received while also comforting Star to the best of his ability.

After a few minutes, Marco decides to break the silence, "I'm so sorry Star…" Not knowing how to respond, Star just sits there, trying to enjoy the feeling of Marco's hand running through her hand despite everything going on. Marco decides to continue after Star doesn't respond, "Why does that force you to go home, It's not fair, It doesn't make any sense."

Star slowly pushes away from Marco and raises her head to look at him, "Because there are so many monsters around Mewni, it needs at least one magical member of the royal family there, a-and without my m-mom, I'm the only one left…"

Marco sighs in defeat, hoping there was a loophole he could find to keep her here, but he was wrong. He looks down as his thoughts race not knowing what to do, he feels useless, he doesn't want to lose Star but there's nothing he can do. After looking at Marco for a few seconds, Star can see the pain on his face, only increasing the pain she feels in her own heart. She wraps her arms around Marco, causing both of their eyes to start leaking again. Marco returns the embrace, pulling Star towards him desperately. :"T-T-Thank y-you, Marco… you w-were the best friend I-I've ever had. Thank you for making everyday an adventure… thank you for accepting me." Star sniffles as she stops talking, wrapping her arms around him tighter.

Listening to Star talk about him like that while holding her in his arms made something in Marco's mind change. He wasn't going to let her leave to Mewni and have to fight Toffee alone, no matter the cost. He loved Star and hearing her talk made him realize that no matter what happens, he would be happier on Mewni with Star. Marco quickly pushed Star off of him and gave her a determined look, causing Star to give him a concerned look.

"No." Marco says firmly, determined not to lose her. Star is confused by Marco's sudden change in attitude. She looks at him, sadness still filling her eyes, "We aren't getting split up, not like this, not because of some stupid monster. Not after everything that we've been through."

Star winces, knowing there is no hope for them staying together, she puts her hand on his shoulder and looks at him softly, "Marco… there's nothing we can do…. I-I'm sorry… you don't deserve this…" Marco is unfazed and continues looking at her with a determined expression.

"Yes there is, nothing is keeping me away from you, no matter what. I'll stay on Mewni with you." Star's face lights up hearing Marco speak, she can't believe he would do that for her. She gets ready to hug him but hesitates, despite how good his offer sounds, it's not right, she wants him to be happy too.

"Marco… I-I'd love it if you could stay with me on Mewni, but… you would be miserable, I will be busy all the time, it won't be like here on earth it-" She is cut off when Marco suddenly kisses her softly, despite wanting to continue what she was saying, she melts into the kiss, unable to resist the feeling of Marco's lips against hers. The soft kiss was so comforting for her, it felt like all of her problems had just disappeared.

Marco pulls away after a few seconds and looks at her softly, "I'd rather be miserable with you on Mewni, than miserable here without you. I love you Star and there's nowhere I'd rather be than by your side."

Star looks up and gives him a small smile, "Really?" Marco nods, returning her smile. Star's smile grows wider as she sees Marco nodding, tears start forming in the corners of her eyes as she jumps onto Marco, tackling him onto the bed with a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, Marco! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Marco returns the hug, but before he can respond he feels Star's lips press against his. He closes his eyes and pulls her waist down towards him as her hands tug on his hair. Star and Marco's lips move passionately against each other until Star decides to slide her tongue into his mouth. Marco quivers at the feeling, still getting used to it but happily returning the action, sliding his tongue around Star's slowly. After a few seconds Marco cups Star's cheek in his hand as he pulls his tongue out of her mouth. He kisses her lips softly one more time before looking into her eyes with a grin plastered on his face.

"Was now really the time for that," Marco says while laughing slightly.

Star chuckles in response to his comment, looking at him lovingly, "Sorry I couldn't help it, I just want you to know how much it means to me that you're doing this." Marco smiles, leaning forward and kissing her forehead softly. "Are you sure you want to do this Marco."

Marco puts a hand on the side of her face and wipes one of the tears in the corner of her eye away, smiling at her, "Of course I am Star." He wraps his arms around her, softly pulling her closer to him. She puts both of her hands against his chest, leaning her head against him and closing her eyes.

After a few minutes of peacefully resting together, Marco decides to push Star away gently. "You should rest here a bit longer, I'll go talk to my parents about Mewni and then we can talk to your dad about it together."

Star looks away from him, uncertainty in her eyes,"Okay...:"

Marco puts a hand on the side of her face, turning her head to look at him, "If start getting upset, I'm just downstairs, please come down if you need help or even just a hug."

Star smiles slightly and places her hand on Marco's hand which is on her face, "I will, thanks, Marco."

Marco smiled hearing her response, he moves his hand so it is holding hers and brings it down so it's lying between them. "I-I know a lot has happened, b-but I was wondering i-if after we talk to our parents, maybe you wanted to go on a date with me… since it's our last day here." Marco uses his free hand to scratch the back of his head, awaiting Star's response.

She smiles widely at him and nods energetically, "I'd love to Marco." Marco smiles giddily as he hears Star accept his offer,

"O-Okay. Awesome! I can't wait." Star giggles at Marco's reaction, finding it cute. He gets up and starts heading out of the room before stopping in the doorway. "Hey, Star? Later w-when we go on the d-date, if you need a hug at anytime just ask okay, i know you've been through a lot."

"Thanks, Marco." She smiles softly at him and gets up, walking over to her spell book. Marco starts leaving to talk to his parents. Thinking Star is pre-occupied he decides to celebrate that she said yes to the date, despite not being surprised.

As Star reaches to open her spell book, she hears Marco suddenly shout, "Woohoo!" She figures his outburst was because of the date and giggles to herself, finding it funny but also being really excited for the date herself. She then turns back to the spell book, ready to get her wand back.

Marco makes his way down the stairs and sees his parents sitting together on the couch, talking with concerned looks on their faces. Marco walks into the living room and his parents quickly stand up when they see him. His mom is the first to speak, "Hi Marco, are… you okay? I know a lot is going on right now and it must be hard for you."

Marco rubs the back of his head nervously, worried about what his parents will think about his decision. "Actually that's what I came down to talk to you guys about…" he pauses and looks down, sighing in preparation for what he has to say. "I'm gonna go with Star to mewni, I need her and she needs me."

Both of his parents gasped loudly hearing Marco, in shock that he would want to leave them to go with Star. Marco sees his dad's expression first, to his surprise his dad didn't look too upset, he was shocked but Marco could see the understanding in his eyes. He smiled softly seeing how his dad reacted, but his smile quickly faded when he turned to see his mom. She looked completely terrified, her eyes were wide, her pupils had contracted and she wore a large frown of disapproval on her face, clearly this is gonna take some convincing. "Absolutely not Marco! River told us about that monster that killed Star's mother and we will not let that happen to you too." Marco winced at the mention of Toffee's actions, still shocked by it.

"Mom Star's going through a lot, she needs me there and I can't stay here without her, she means too much to me." Marco says in an almost pleading way, his eyes lock with his mother's and they have a stare off, until Marco's mom responds. "You're not going Marco, I won't let you get killed over he-" Angie's shouting was cut off by her husbands hand being placed on her shoulder.

"Honey," She turns her head to look at him, fear and even anger. Rafael looks at her softly, making her intense glare subside, being replaced by a look of worry, realizing he is on Marco's side. "They have grown so close over the last year, Star is having a tough time and she needs support, our son loves her, we shouldn't stand in their way. I can't imagine losing you the way he is losing Star." Angie starts crying, leaning her head against Rafael's chest, knowing he is right but not wanting to lose Marco.

"Okay, y-you're right, you can go with Star, Marco. Please be careful…" She turns around and places a hand on Marco's cheek softly, smiling weakly at him.

"I will be, mom," He quickly wraps his arms around both of his parents and they all share a long, meaningful hug. "Thank you so much, you're the best."

Rafael pulls back from the hug and looks at Marco, now wearing his usual bright smile, "You should go check on Star, come down to talk to us later before you leave."

"Also make sure you pack for mewni, you don't want to be wearing the same smelly clothes around Star all the time right?" Angie gives Marco a smirk while she teases him, causing him to roll his eyes, although still smiling.

"I will Mom, thanks again for letting me do this." Marco turns around and starts jogging back up the stairs to tell Star the good news, a wide smile on his face while his parents look at him fondly, proud of how much he has grown recently.

When Marco arrives at Star's room he creaks the door open, "Hey, Star-" he pauses when he sees her sitting on her bed, rubbing tears from her eyes as she quickly turns to him.

"Oh, hey Marco, what did your parents say?" Marco doesn't respond and walks over to Star, sitting beside her on the bed, looking at her intently.

"Are you okay Star?"

"What? Of course I'm okay, why do you ask?" Star scoffs, trying to laugh off his question but Marco sees straight through it, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Star, remember what I said about asking for a hug if you need one." Star looks down, not wanting him to see the weakness in her eyes. "Star?"

After a few seconds she looks up at him and wraps her arms around his neck, "Yeah, I know, sorry Marco, I was just thinking about m-my mom… I miss her…" Star starts tearing up as she thinks about her Mom again. " I know I should talk to you about this it's just… I don't like you having to see me like this, I'm not much of a warrior princess right now..." Marco starts stroking Star's hair and she purrs in response, despite the tense situation.

"I won't judge you for being sad about all this Star, I just want to help you feel as good as possible."

"I know, thanks Marco." She rests her head against his shoulder, wanting to enjoy the feeling of his hand stroking through her hair for a little longer. After she is satisfied, she decides to pull back from the hug, "What did your parents think about you coming to Mewni?"

He smiles slightly at the question, excited to tell her how it went, "Well, my mom wasn't that happy about it, but my dad understood how important this is to me so thanks to him, my mom agreed to let me go with you."

Star's face lights up hearing this, she wraps her arms around his stomach, tackling Marco into a hug, "Yay!" He chuckles in response to her excitement, happy to see her still having moments like this even with all that's going on. Marco lifts Star up to his level, her eyes now level with his.

"Now all we have to do is get your dad on board, come on let's go call him so we have more time for our date." Both of them smiling and blushing at the mention of their date. Star nods and releases Marco, grabbing his hand and walking over to her mirror with him.

Star turns to look at Marco, "Do you want to ask him or should I do it?" Marco stares off at nothing for a few seconds, contemplating her request, before looking down at her to answer.

"I think you should, he'll probably listen to you more than me. Unless you want me to ask?"

"No, it's fine, I was just checking if you wanted to." Star turns to her mirror and pulls the curtains away from it, hovering her hand over the call button. "Are you ready?" Marco nods at her confidently and she returns the gesture, turning back to her mirror and calling her father.

The mirror rings a few times as Star and Marco stare at it, still holding hands. They patiently wait for a response, but Star begins to worry when after a few seconds of ringing, no one picks up. Thankfully, as Star's paranoia was reaching dangerous levels, River answers the call.

"Oh hello Star, Marco. Why are you calling, you should be out spending time together."

Star thinks of what to say and after a few seconds opens her mouth to speak, "Dad, me and Marco don't want to be split up, ever since I've come to earth he's been the best part of my life and I don't want to lose him." Star raises their hands into the frame for River to see, "I… I'm in love with Marco, dad. I need him by my side and he wants me to stay by his, so… we wanted to ask you if… maybehecouldcometoMewniwithme." Star finishes the last part quickly, almost to fast for River to hear but he understood what she was requesting. He moves his eyes from her, to their intertwined hands and then back to Marco.

"Marco, do you want this too, do you want to accompany my daughter to Mewni."

Marco looks firmly at River, hoping to show him how much he wants this, "Yes, River, I do."

River looks at Star and Marco blankly for a few seconds, contemplating what to do. "Star, could you go and let me and Marco talk alone for a few minutes?"

She hesitates, not wanting to leave Marco's side, but he looks at her softly, reassuring her that everything will work out. Star squeezes his hand and leans forward, kissing his cheek before walking out of the room quickly, shutting the door behind her.

"Marco, my boy, I know you care for my daughter, but… Mewni is not safe for you… Toffee will return and I cannot allow you to get hurt by him." Marco is unfazed by River's words, continuing to look at him firmly.

"I know how dangerous Toffee is, I've fought him before, but that doesn't matter to me, what matters is that I'm by Star's side, helping her get through this." River's gaze softens slightly at Marco's words, touched by how much Marco cares for his daughter.

"I'm sorry, Marco, I truly am… but I cannot allow you to come to Mewni, knowing how dangerous it will be for you, enjoy the time you have with Star, before she leaves." Marco opens his mouth to respond but River hangs up. He looks down at the floor, clenching his fists, he can't believe after all this, there's nothing he can do.

Tears start dripping from his eyes as he walks over to the door to tell Star, he puts a hand on the door knob and gets ready to face Star. He thinks about how crushed she will be when she hears they will be separated. He pictures himself telling Star and her crying, falling apart as he tells her that River said no. Marco rips his hand away from the door knob and sprints back to the mirror as he runs, he won't let that happen. He presses the call button over and over until he sees River reappear on the screen. "No! I'm not letting you split us up! I'm going with Star to Mewni, no matter what!"

River looks at Marco softly, feeling bad for him, understanding the pain he must be feeling, "Marco I told you, it's not sa-"

"I don't care! Star needs me with everything she's going through, I'll be there to help her no matter what you say! Wouldn't you have wanted to help Moon if she was going through this, didn't you want to protect her from Toffee!" River freezes at Marco's last comment and so does Marco, worried he had upset River. River looks down, remembering when Comet died and how he was there to help Moon get through it. He remembered how thankful she was that she had him and all the times she said she wouldn't have gotten through it without him.

River looked up at Marco, seeing his own reflection in the Mirror over Marco's projection. He saw his younger self in Marco, how much he cared for Star touched his heart. "I understand, Marco, Moon went through something very similar to Star at her age, if this really is what you want, then you may come with Star to Mewni."

Marco gasps, unable to believe that he was able to change River's mind and more surprised that River wasn't angry with him. "Thank you River. Thank you so much, Star will be so happy to hear you're okay with this."

River nods at Marco nd smiles softly, "I look forward to seeing you again, Marco." he reaches forward and ends the call. Marco wastes no time running over to the door, ripping it open and tackling Star into a huge hug. Star flinches at first, before returning the hug when she realizes it's just Marco.

"He said I could go with you to Mewni, Star. I'm so happy right now!" Star smiles widely, nuzzling her head into Marco's chest and closing her eyes.

"That's amazing Marco, thank you so much for doing this." Star wraps her arms tighter around his back to match his grip around her.

They stand there together, enjoying the feeling of being together, knowing they won't be separated. They are like that for several minutes, neither sure exactly how long but eventually Star breaks away from Marco. "So, Mr. Diaz, how about that date I was promised?" Star reaches her hand out for him to take it. Marco reaches for her hand and grabs it, pulling her close to him and pressing his lips against hers as he places his hands against her back. Star is caught off guard by the sudden action, but quickly melts into the kiss, humming her approval as she places her hands on his chest. They move their lips against each other softly, occasionally breaking away from the kiss briefly for air, before resuming their gentle kiss. After a minute, the two pull away, resting their foreheads against each other with closed eyes, finally getting to rest and be happy.

Marco grabs Star's hand and starts walking towards the stairs, "Now we can go on a date." He smirked at her and she smiles warmly back at him, wrapping her free hand around his arm. Marco looks down at Star, "Remember, if you need a hug, don't be afraid to ask, I want to help you if you need it."

Star looks up into Marco's eyes and smiles at him warmly, she goes up onto her tiptoes and kisses him softly. "I will, Marco. Thank you." She puts her head back against his shoulder and together they walk out of Marco's house, ready to enjoy their date.


	16. Chapter 16

“Do I really have to carry you all the way to dinner, Star?” Marco walks through the sliding doors of a building, looking up at the princess who was currently on his back.

She looks back down at him and smirks, “That was the deal, if I beat you, then you carry me to dinner.” Star brings one of her hands up to Marco’s head and ruffles his hair, giggling at his messy hair.

Marco groans and turns his head, not before Star notices a small smile appearing at the corners of his lips. “Yeah well I honestly wasn’t expecting you to lose to you the first time you ever went bowling.” 

Star rests her chin down on his shoulder, leaning against his head. “Now you’ve learned your lesson, never underestimate Star, the Underestimated. Besides I know you enjoy this.” Star nuzzles her head against his as she finishes, trying to emphasize her last comment.

Marco leans his head against hers slightly, sighing contently, “Yeah you caught me, this isn’t all that bad.” Star giggles at his response, “But still, You got 11 Strikes! That’s almost impossible!?”

Star shrugs, thinking back to the game they just played, “It would have been 12 if you told me I wasn’t allowed to cross the line before I did it.”

“It’s not like you needed the extra strike, I only got 5 the whole game!, You crushed me, and I thought I was good at bowling.” Marco chuckles slightly, remembering how everyone was staring as Star got strike after strike at bowling, even though she was skipping up to the line every time.

Star smiles softly before closing her eyes and resting on Marco’s shoulder, letting his steps rock her deeper into her rest. She was pretty close to falling asleep on him until he broke the silence. “Hey did you get your wand back yet? I wasn’t sure if you got to it yet.” 

Star’s eyes flutter open slowly, she takes a moment to process her surroundings before responding, noticing they were in a completely different location than before. “Oh yeah, I did!” Star quickly reaches into her pocket and pulls out her wand, pushing it in front of Marco excitedly. “Look!” 

Marco takes a moment to look over the newly repaired wand in front of him. It was very similar to before, with only a few notable changes. The Star in the middle being the biggest change, instead of the yellow it use to be, now it was bright blue. The rim around the main piece of the wand was now red, very reminiscent of Marco’s hoodie, the red spiraling down the handle of the wand, complemented by yellow spiraling down beside it. “It looks awesome Star!”

Star smiles brightly, her eyes beaming at him, “I know right! Ya know I never thought I would like the star being blue, but it looks so pretty!” After admiring the wand for a bit longer, Star pulls it away and puts it back into her pocket, “Ugh, but I still can’t use it for a few days.” 

Marco’s head quickly spins around to face Star, “What?! Why?”

“Well..." 

Earlier in Star’s Room

Star slowly reaches out to open the magic book of spells. As her finger makes contact with the book it flies open, revealing Glossaryck, hovering above it. "Hello Princess."

"Hey, Glossaryck. Is my wand ready yet? It's been like a week since I gave it to you." Star says with slight irritation present in her voice, missing having magic to help her with everything.

"Yes Star your wand is ready, but-" Glossaryck is cut off by Star energetically reaching for the pages of the book, trying to open it.

"Oooo Yay, Gimme, Gimme." Glossaryck groans and uses his magic to push Star away from the book, still clawing in it's direction as she is being pushed away by the magical barrier. Star stops her futile attempts at getting the wand and pouts, sitting cross legged on the floor. "No fair, why won't you give me my wand."

Glossaryck rolls his eyes at her impatience, "I was about to tell you before you rudely interrupted me, now I'm not sure if I even want to tell you." He spins around in the air, putting his back to her.

"Come on Gloassaryyyyck, Pleeaasseee give me my wand." Star pleads, crawling over to Glossaryck and putting her hands together, begging him to give her wand back.

Glossayck turns one eye to face her before sighing, "Fine... but you must listen to me after I give you the wand."

Star quickly perks up, bouncing up and down on the ground, now wearing a giddy smile on her face, "Yay!" Glossaryck floats down to the book and pinches the edge of the page carefully, peeling it back revealing her wand, floating up into the air emitting a bright light around it. She squeals at the sight of her wand, rushing over to it quickly and hugging it like a teddy bear. "Oh my sweet baby, I've missed you so much."

Glossaryck looks at the sight unamused, clearing his throat before speaking, "Yes, okay, now as I was saying, you cannot use it fo-" He is again cut off by Star, who was attempting to cast a spell.

"Narwhal Bla-!" Before Star can finish, a large explosion comes out of the wand, blasting her back across the room into the wall. She slides down the wall and lands on her head with a thud, "Okay... totally, yeah... you... you can talk now Glossaryck"

"Why do I even bother. Okay so your wand is still adjusting to being cleaved back together, it will be much more powerful once it is ready but for now it's just really unstable, if you try to use magic it will just... well I don't need to explain that part now. Pretty much you just can't use your wand for a day or two because it is adjusting to the extra magic it just got, got it?" Glossaryk quickly explains what's happening to the wand, speaking too fast for Star to process. She sits there, staring blankly at Glossaryck, still dazed by the explosion that just went off.

"Yeah, got it... totally."

Glossaryck groans, squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing his temples as he floats back into the book, closing it. Star just lays in the corner of her room, staring at her new wand and how much more powerful it felt to use now... even if it was blasting her across the room. "Woah..."

After a few more seconds of lying there, Glossaryck floats out of the book again, "Oh and you should probably go clean up, can't have all that black stuff on your face for your date. " Quickly Glossaryck flies back into the book before she has time to question his knowledge of the date. As she shoots up out of her position against the wall to rip the book open and interrogate Glossaryck, she sees her face in the mirror and realizes he wasn't lying. She had residue from the explosion all over her face, so she quickly ran into the bathroom to clean up.

With Star and Marco

"So that's basically it." Star finishes explaining to Marco as they get closer to the restaurant.

"Okay... I just have one question... How does that little creep know about our date!?" Marco says, flailing one of his hands in the air before quickly putting it back under Star's leg so she doesn't fall off.

"Yeah seriously, how does he do that?" The two look at each other for a few seconds, before bursting out into a fit of laughter. Eventually their laughter subsides and silence comes in its place as they make their way to the restaurant. Star takes out her wand to look at it again, still fascinated by how similar yet different it looks. She stares at the blue crystal in the middle, admiring it. Her mind wanders to her mother's wand, the heart crystal that it had was blue too. She continued staring at the brilliant blue crystal, almost feeling like she saw her mom in it's reflection, she missed her so much. All the emotions start flooding back into her, she wraps her wand hand around Marco's neck, clutching at his shoulder and pushing her eyes against it too, hiding the tears that were forming.

Marco doesn't realize what was happening until they get close to the restaurant, "Hey, Star, you still awake, we're almost the-" He turns his head to look at her and is immediately hit with a wave of guilt, shock and sadness as he sees her tear stained face. "Star? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Marco quickly rushes over to a bench and sets Star down on it, sitting at her side. Not a second after he sits down, she wraps her arms around his neck and puts her face against his shoulder again. He quickly returns the embrace, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close against him. 

"I-I'm sorry Marco, I don't want to r-ruin the date... it-it's just... my mom, I r-r-really miss her... I wish I talked to her more or something! Instead I always just p-pushed her away a-and now she's... now she's gone..." Star lets everything pour out of her, all the sadness, all of the regret she had been feeling over the last day. Marco doesn't know what to say, he's still pretty new to the whole boyfriend thing and now his girlfriend is having a breakdown on his shoulder. He still wants to do something, anything to make her stop crying, his mind is racing, worried he might screw up and say something wrong. Without knowing what to say, Marco decides not to say anything, afraid to make things worse. He just does what he knows always helps her and makes her happy. He tilts his body to face her, causing her to instinctively do the same, neither releasing the embrace as they shift positions. He lifts one arm off of her back and up to the back of her head, stroking down her hair, from her head to the small of her back. Slowly Star's breathing begins to settle and the tears in her eyes start drying. Without moving her head from his shoulder, she decides to break the silence.

"Thanks, Marco... you always know what to do... you're the best." 

Marco smiles softly, happy that he was successfully able to help her. He moves back from Star and looks into her eyes. "Don't worry, Star, you aren't running anything, just being with you is enough. We don't have to go to dinner if you aren't up for it."

"No, no, no, I'll be fine, I still really want to go to dinner with you." Star's eyes widen a bit, worried Marco might not want to go with her like this.

"Okay, I still want to go too, but only if you're sure you still want to."

"Yes. 100% yes. Absolutely." Star answers 3 times as many as she needed to, hoping to convince Marco that she still wants to go.

Marco chuckles at her response, still finding her behaviors adorable, even after a year of being around her. "Okay," He leans forward and kisses her softly for a second, before breaking apart from her and standing up, offering her his hand with a bow, "Then shall we be on our way, princess."

Star giggles at his theatrics, taking his hand and standing up, "We shall, my prince." They start walking towards the restaurant, hand in hand, still laughing as they continue to joke around, calling eachother prince and princess. They reach the restaurant and Marco checks in at the counter, they are given a booth in the back corner of the restaurant. It was decorated with a candle in the middle and red cushions, which Star was bouncing on when she first sat down. Marco scooting into the booth to sit next to Star, their laps almost touching.

"Wooooowwwww... Marco, this place is awesome! Why haven't you ever take me here before?" Star is looking around the room wide-eyed, admiring all of the decorations around it.

"Because it's super expensive, I've only ever been here once before and that was when Janna hypnotized me.... the worst part is that I can't even remember how the food tasted..." Marco looks down, staring off into nothing.

"Hehe, Janna. Why are we going now then, if it's so expensive then I would've been fine going somewhere cheaper."

Marco looks up at Star and smiles warmly at her, "Well, I wanted to do something special for our first official date, only the best for the princess of Mewni." 

Star smiles brightly back at Marco, "Awww, Marcooooo, that's so sweet." Star starts leaning in to kiss Marco and he does the same, until they are interrupted by another voice.

"What would you two like for dinner tod-" The waitress pauses as she turns to look at Star and Marco, who were both now staring back at her.

"Miss Skullnick?!" Star and Marco shout in unison.

"And I thought my weekends couldn't get any worse, what do you two brats want to eat?"

Star and Marco are still staring in shock at the sight of Miss Skullnick working as a waitress, let alone at such a fancy restaurant. Marco is the first to talk after a few moments of shock, "What are you doing here, you're a teacher, why are you working at this fancy restaurant."

"Look kid, it's summer and I need a way to supplement my income while you pests are out on break, and I don't want to see you guys giving googly eyes at each other all night like you always do in my classroom! So just order, so I can swap with another waiter."

"Uhhh, okay, Star what do you want?" Marco turns to Star, who is still staring in shock and disbelief at seeing her teacher during summer. She lifts her hand up slowly and places her pointer finger over one of the items on the menu. "Spaghetti and Meatballs, that actually sounds really good. Can we get a Spaghetti and Meatballs for two please Skullzy." 

"Ugh, you guys are gonna try to pull a Lady and the Tramp, remind me to leave before you two get your food." Marco starts blushing madly as she writes down their order on a piece of paper, Star still processing what she is seeing. "You're order will be out in a few minutes." Miss Skullnick quickly walks away, leaving the two teens.

"Well that was... weird." Marco comments, not noticing Star is still in a daze.

"Wha... but... I thought... huh?" Marco turns to look at Star as she attempts to form a sentence, tilting his head as she stutters. He watches, amused by her confusion for a few seconds, until she finally manages to get a sentence out, "I thought teachers were bound to the school... like they can never leave... they live there and everything." 

Marco blinks a few times, staring at Star blankly before he bursts out laughing, He continues laughing much to Star's confusion, still not understanding what is going on. As Marco is regaining his composure, Star's mind wanders back to something Miss Skullnick had said. "Hey Marco? What was Miss Skullnick talking about when she said "Lady and the Tramp"" Marco stops laughing and looks at Star nervously, not wanting to explain his evil plan. 

He starts rubbing the back of his neck, not answering which annoys Star. He realizes he isn't getting out of this without explaining himself. He sighs before swallowing his pride and answering her, "Remember that movie about the two dogs that fell in love?" Star looks at Marco for a few seconds before nodding as she remembers the events of the movie, "and remember the scene where they were eating spaghetti and they... end up... kissing accidentally."

Star looks at Marco for a few seconds, still not fully understanding what he meant. Slowly she put the pieces together and figured out what he meant, releasing a loud "Ohhhhhhh" at the realization. Before Marco has time to say anything else, Star jumps on Marco, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately. Marco hesitates at first, not wanting to have such an intimate exchange in public, before submitting to Star, unable to resist her charms. He wraps his arms around her waist and returns the kiss with just as much intensity as she was. Their lips move against each other for a few seconds, until Star too realizes that other people are around them as well. Quickly she finishes the kiss, pressing her lips against his one more time before pulling away. "If you wanted me to kiss you then you could've just asked, silly." Star boops Marco's nose with her finger, not earning any reaction from him, still lost in the experience they just shared. She giggles at him, placing her hands on his shoulders and trying to shake him back down to earth. 

Marco still doesn't respond to her shaking him, now trying to exaggerate the effects of her kiss. He is forced to react though when a new waiter shows up with their food. "Sir, Madam, your Spaghetti and Meatballs." He lowers the plate down onto the table, Star marvelling at the size of it. 

"Wow that was really fast. Thank you." 

"Yes, that was because your previous waitress requested we, Ahem, "Hurry up and give the adorable couple their food."" The waiter imitates the voice of Miss Skullnick perfectly, shocking Marco. 

"Awww, I knew Schulzy thought we were cute, told ya, Marco." 

Marco turns to look at Star and chuckles, "I guess you were right, Star."

"I'll leave you two to it, have fun now." The waiter says, leaving them alone. Now it was just Star, Marco and their glorious pile of Spaghetti and Meatballs. 

"Are you sure we're gonna be able to eat all of that, it's the size of the table." Marco remarks, waving his hands around to emphasize the absurd size of their meal.

"Not a single string of Spaghetti will be left after I'm done." Star says in a low voice, looking at the spaghetti with determination burning in her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Star," Marco said sarcastically, believing there is no possible way for anyone to eat that much food, it would be absolutely impossible. There is no way she is gonna eat it all.

Outside the Restaurant

"You actually ate all of it?!" Star and Marco were walking out of the restaurant, Marco hunched over slightly from how much food he had eaten, Star still skipping around playfully, despite the ludicrous amount of food she just ate.

"Yeah, it wasn't even that hard. I must get it from my dad." Star says, shrugging as Marco stares in disbelief at how easily she is moving around after eating what must've been 5 pounds or more of Spaghetti.

"I have come to the conclusion that science will never be able to explain half the things you are able to do." Star giggles at Marco's comment, even though she still doesn't really get what this "science" thing is. Her eyes wander from Marco up to a hill, she saw the colors of a sunset along the horizon and decided it would be a perfect place for them to watch it. 

"Ooooo, come on, Marco. Let's go watch the sunset on this hill." Star grabs Marco's hand and starts running up the hill, dragging Marco behind her. Marco struggles to keep his footing as they run up the hill, feeling the spaghetti moving around in his stomach. They reach the top of the hill, Marco collapsing to his hands and knees as they arrive, Star gracefully sitting down on the grass. 

"I think I'm gonna throw up." Marco says, honestly not sure if he was going to throw up or not.

"Hold it down, Diaz! We have a sunset to enjoy." He sits back next to Star, swallowing to keep the food in his stomach. He wraps his arm around Star's shoulder and leans his head against hers. Star hums as he does this, snuggling against him and wrapping her arms around his waist. Together they look out at the colors radiating off of the horizon. A mix of both orange and pink going across the sky as the sun starts falling behind the edge of the world. They watch the sight together for a few minutes in silence, waiting for the sun to fully disappear.

As the last little piece of the sun slips under the horizon, Marco breaks the silence that they had been enjoying for the past few moments. "Thanks for an amazing day Star. You're amazing." He turns his head and smiles widely at her. She gives him a soft smile in return, appreciating the complement. After staring into eachothers eyes for a bit longer, Star leans forward and Marco does the same, their lips meeting in a soft yet intimate kiss. They part after a few seconds before quickly pressing their lips against each other again. This pattern continues for a few minutes, both completely invested in the loving kisses they were sharing. Eventually they stop, leaning their foreheads against each other. Marco looks at Star's closed eyes and brings a hand up to cup her cheek. immediately after he does this, her eyes open up slowly, revealing a lustful look in her eyes. 

The look she was giving him sets something off inside Marco causing him to pull Star's face into his, falling back onto the ground as Star climbs onto him. Star wastes no time sliding her tongue into his mouth. Marco responds by doing the same, allowing them to share a dance as they swirl around each other. Star lifts her hands off the ground and places them on Marco's chest, forcing him into the ground. Marco responds by wrapping his arms around Star's waist, pulling her down against him with equal force. They continue like this for a few moments, the exchange getting more and more heated as the seconds tick past. 

Star suddenly pressed down against his chest harder, keeping him pressed against the ground. She removes her tongue from his mouth and start trailing kisses down his cheek and collar bone, all the way until she reaches his neck. She then continues to kiss his neck, sucking and nibbling it every few seconds. This new contact catches Marco off guard, causing him to groan slightly. He moves one of his hands up to her head and buries it into her hair, loving the new experience she is giving him. Marco's thoughts start blurring and he loses control of his limbs. His hand tugs on her hair slightly, earning a muffled moan from the princess. His other hand slowly starts moving down her back until it eventually hit something that snaps him out of his daze, quickly sitting up causing Star to fall off of him. 

"Oh my gosh, Star, I-I'm so sorry I didn't mean to tou-" He is cut off by Star who is lying in the grass giggling.

"Don't worry safe kid... I didn't mind it that much..." Star's cheeks flush red at what she just said, Marco's cheeks doing the same.

Marco reaches down and helps Star up, "I think that's enough of that for today, hehe." Star turns around and leans back against Marco, resting her back against his chest.

"Yeah, but tomorrow is a new day." Star teases, turning around and winking at Marco, making him blush even more. Star giggles, noticing the change in hue of his face, before then turning around and looking out over all the houses, sighing happily. "Thank you, Marco... With everything that's been going on... it means a lot to have you by my side through it all, thanks for supporting me when I needed it most." Marco smiles softly down at Star, whose eyes are now peacefully shut.

"Of course, Star." And with that Star drifts off to sleep, leaving poor Marco having to carry her home, with two pounds of Spaghetti in his stomach.


	17. Chapter 17

“Bye, Mom,” Marco embraces his mother, preparing to walk through the portal to Mewni which will put him dimensions away from her. 

“Bye, Honey. Please be careful.” Angie squeezes Marco as tightly as she is able to, some tears welling up in her eyes.

Marco breaks the embrace and steps back towards the portal, “I will be, Mom, I promise.” Star then walks down the stairs with her belongings in a suitcase. She walks to the portal and leaves her bag there, before then jumping onto Angie and Rafael, hugging them tightly. 

“You guys were so amazing, I’m really gonna miss you.” Star squeezes her eyes shut and tightens her grip around them. Over the past year Star had grown really close with Marco’s parents, almost seeing them as her parents too. 

Angie is the first to respond, “Oh Star, we’re gonna miss you here too, it’s gonna be so boring without your lovely energy in the house. Be sure to visit us sometimes” 

“You are always welcome here, this is you’re home too now, Star.” Rafael says as they break apart from the hug, Angie’s hands lingering on Star’s shoulders.

“Stay safe, and take care of Marco for us.” Star smiles softly at them and nods, walking over to Marco at the portal. 

She turns back around to face them, “Bye guys! I’ll make sure to visit all the time.” Star waves back to them energetically and they do the same before she steps into the portal. Marco watches as Star enters the portal and then looks back at his parents.

“Remember to visit us, Marco, we still need to know you’re okay.” Angie says, giving Marco a concerned look. 

“I will, don’t worry, I’ll be okay.” He smiles confidently at his parents, hoping to ease their nerves.

“Take good care of, Star, Marco, she is very special.” Rafael tells Marco, making his smile softened into a more caring expression.

“I know she is, and I will.” Marco’s parents both smile fondly at him, proud of who he has grown up to be. Marco raises his hand to wave to them, “Bye guys, I’m really gonna miss you while I’m gone.”

“Bye, son,” Rafael says.

“Bye, Marco.”

Marco looks at them and gives them one more smile, before turning, picking up his backpack and large duffle bag, then walking into the portal to join Star in Mewni. 

When he steps through the portal, he sees Star and her dad talking not too far away. 

“Ah, Marco, my boy, you’ve arrived.” River turns to Marco and lifts him up into a hug, before releasing him back to the ground.

“Hey, River.” Marco says, smiling warmly a him.

“My, you have a lot of bags, I’ll show you two to your room right away.” River turns around and starts walking down the castle hallways. Star quickly walks over to Marco and grabs his hand with her free hand. She smiles softly at him, wanting to show her appreciation for him being here. Together they catch up to River and walk to their room.

“So will our rooms be right next to each other?” Marco questions when they catch up to River, not catching that he said room instead of rooms. Star opens her mouth to tell him but River beats her to it.

“You will be staying in the same room, I thought you two would be more comfortable that way given the… unpleasant circumstances.” Marco’s eyes widen a bit, surprised by River allowing them to stay in the same room, though he was not at all opposed to it.

“Oh… thanks, yeah that sounds nice.” Marco looks over at Star, smiling at her. 

River suddenly stops and turns around, looking Marco dead in the eyes. Marco freezes in place and goes pale, intimidated by River’s glare. “ But Marco, I will not hesitate to hunt you down and rip you apart piece by piece if you soil my daughter’s inno-!” River’s threat is cut off by Star, hitting his shoulder with tremendous force. 

“DAD!” Star is blushing madly, trying to cover her face out of embarrassment from what he was saying.

Marco decides to chime in, feeling he needs to respond to what River said, “No, no, no, y-you’ve got it all wrong, I would never do that, especially not now.” Marco says as he starts to sweat, feeling River’s glare burn through him. 

“Very well, this is where you two will be staying.” River motions to a door to their right, which Marco reaches to open. When he opens it he is mesmerized by the size of the room, it is similar in size to Star’s room back on earth but it’s not as tall, only having one floor. It instead has two beds in the center of the room, one with a blue canopy and the other with a red one.

“I’ll give you two a few minutes to unpack,” River turns and walks back down the hallway as Star and Marco walk into the room, closing the door behind them. 

Star walks over to the bed and flops onto it, staring at the blue canopy over it. She groans and squeezes her eyes shut, pushing her palms against them. This prompts Marco to walk over and sit next to her. “I hate this. I miss earth. I miss my friends. Everything was so great like a week ago and now I’m here, where I’ll constantly be working and figuring out what to do about Toffee. This…. Just isn’t fair.” She moves her palms off of her eyes and looks up at Marco, “and now I’ve dragged you into all this… I’m sorry, Marco, you shouldn’t have to be here.”

Star rolls over so she isn’t facing Marco, realizing what she’s done to Marco. He reaches over and grabs one of her hands with his. He pulls it towards him, forcing her to turn around and face him. He looks down into her eyes and smiles at her, “There’s nowhere in the whole universe I’d rather be than right here, by your side.” 

Star smiles softly at him before she rolls towards Marco and leans her face against his side. “Ugh, Marco why do you have to be so adorably cheesy.”

Marco laughs at what Star had said, lying down next to her. “Sorry,” Star smiles at him and leans her forehead against his. 

“We should probably start unpacking, I feel like it’s going to be a busy day.” Star removes her head from his, standing up off the bed and offering Marco her hand to help him up. 

“Yeah you’re right.” Marco takes Star’s hand and stands up, together they walk towards their bags. Marco let’s go of Star’s hand and unzips his duffle bag, revealing an ocean of red hoodies that were stuffed into his bag. He notices a rectangular box pressed against the side of one of his hoodies, not remembering packing it he quickly reaches for it and squeezes it out of his bag. He gasps loudly making Star look up from her bag at him.

“Is something wrong, Marco?” Marco turns around slowly, before pushing a box of Captain Blanche’s Sugar Seeds out in front of him. Star lets out a prolonged gasp of excitement until a few seconds later she reaches a hand out to touch the box. Marco quickly pulls it back and gives Star a smug look. 

“Where are your manners, Princess Butterfly.” Marco teases Star, emphasizing the words ‘Princess Butterfly’. Star pouts at Marco, crossing her arms and looking away.

“Hmph… Fine, Marco? Can I pleeessaasssee have the Sugar Seeds?” Star then quickly turns her head back to Marco, leaning forward and smiling widely, her eyes beaming at him. 

Marco puts a hand on his chin and looks up at the wall, “Hmm, I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it.” He quickly looks back down at Star smiles brightly at her. Star frowns at him and crosses her arms again.

“Awww, no fair.” Star is ready to concede defeat until an idea pops into her head. She looks up at Marco and smirks deviously. He tilts his head to the side when he notices her sudden change in attitude. 

“Pretending you don’t care isn’t gonna make me give you them.” Marco closes his eyes and smirks at her, not noticing that she is walking towards him. His eyes quickly open when he feels something poking him in the chest. When his eyes open he sees Star staring at him, a few inches from his face. He looks down and sees that Star’s finger is what poked him and it’s now tracing circles around the center of his chest. 

Marco looks back up at Star as he instinctively wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. “Perhaps there is another way I could persuade you.” Star then starts leaning forward while she closes her eyes, Marco doing the same in response. Their lips touch softly as they share a loving kiss. 

Their embrace can’t last too long though, as a voice that neither is familiar with interrupts them. “Sorry to interrupt princess.” 

Instinctively Star quickly pushes Marco away, turning around to face the door as she squeals in surprise. When is facing the door, she sees a girl who is seemingly around her age, with short orange hair and wearing traditional squire gear. The girl is leaning against the open door with crossed arms, looking at them. Marco steps in front of Star and glares at the girl, “Who are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Higgs, a squire. Sorry you probably don’t know what that is since your a dumb human, I’m a knight in training.” Higgs smirks at Marco, proud of herself for her insult. 

“I know what a squire is, I also know they probably aren’t qualified to barge into the princess's living quarters unnoticed.” Marco smirks back at the squire, noticing that she flinches and snarls under her breath at what he said. 

She quickly regains her confidence and pushes off of the door, walking towards Marco and inspecting him. “I’m just here to see if you’re really knight material, you’re gonna be here, fighting by the princess’s side, and the only qualification you have is being the princess’s boyfriend, while I have been training my whole life to be a knight.” Marco scoffs at what she said, having far more experience in combat than she could, thanks to his years in the neverzone. 

“Oh yeah, I’m sure you’re gonna be an amaaaazing knight, 10/10.” Marco says in an obviously sarcastic tone. Star creeps up behind Marco and puts a hand on his shoulder.

She goes up on her tiptoes and whispers to Marco, “Marco, the squires here are pretty serious, I don’t know if you should say that stuff.”

Without moving his gaze from Higgs, he responds to Star, “I’m sure it’s fine Sta-” Marco notices from the corner of his eye that Higgs is charging towards them so he quickly grabs Star and runs out of the way, making Higgs crash into a wall. Marco looks back towards where she hit the wall, “Oh, uhhhhh yeah, maybe you were right, I’ll listen to you about mewman stuff from now on, hehe.” 

“You think you can just show up here and insult me, about the thing I’ve devoted my whole life too.” Marco moves away from Star and towards the door so she doesn’t get caught in the crossfire. 

“Looks like I wasn’t wrong, what kind of a knight nearly attacks the person they are meant to protect.” Rage starts burning in Higgs’s eyes and she charges at Marco again. Marco doesn’t want to make a scene and hit a squire on his first day here, so he moves out of the way and trips her, making her tumble across the ground. “We shouldn’t do this right now, someone might get hurt.”

Higgs quickly stands up and glares at Marco, “Yeah, you will.” Higgs charges at Marco again and throws a punch at him, Marco easily dodges out of the way and uses her momentum to toss her across the room. She lands with a loud thump on the floor a few feet away from Marco and staggers to lean against the wall. Marco stands and watches, not seeming to have used any energy at all.

As Higgs wobbles to her feet, Star and several knights from around the castle, including Higgs’s knight, Sir Stabby, gather around the two and observe. Marco notices this and starts to get worried, not wanting to leave a bad impression on his first day. He decides to swallow his pride and walk over to Higgs and extending his hand to her. “I think we got off on the wrong foot, Hi, I’m Marco Dia-” Higgs was clearly uninterested in starting over as she swiftly raises her leg and roundhouse kicks Marco in the face and knocking him to the floor. The crowd gasps, thinking it to be a dishonorable move.

“Marco!” Star calls out to Marco, although knowing he can take a hit, still being worried he might be injured.

With that, Marco loses all respect for Higgs and decides to stop playing around. He quickly rolls away from Higgs and gets to his feet, putting his guard up. Marco looks over to Star and gives her a reassuring smile, letting her know that he’s okay. He looks back at Higgs and she smirks at him, very pleased with the kick she had just landed in front of all the knights. She wastes no more time and charges towards Marco, raising her fist to punch him. Marco leans to the side, avoiding the punch, but he grabs her wrist as she is moving past him and twists her arm behind her, forcing her to the ground. 

It takes her a moment to process what had just happened, but as soon as she did she was screaming in pain at how her arm was being bent. Marco kept it in that position for a few seconds before releasing the hold, making sure not to damage her arm too badly. He stands up and walks over to Star, not even looking down at Higgs once. Whispers can be heard from in the crowd about the fight and how Sir Stabby’s squire was defeated so easily by ‘The Princess’s boyfriend’. 

When Marco gets through the crowd and finds Star, she quickly lifts a hand up to his cheek and runs her thumb along where he was kicked. “Are you okay, Marco? She kicked you really hard.” Marco places a hand on top of hers and pulls it off of his cheek, smiling at her.

“I’m fine, don’t worry, Star. I’ve taken worse hits from Ludo’s monsters.” He laughs a bit thinking about Ludo’s monsters and how easy it was Star and Marco to beat them. Star is still concerned for him, not wanting him to be hurt, but she trusts that he is okay. “Okay…” Suddenly a knight, Lady Whosits, comes out from within the crown and approaches Star and Marco. 

“Hey, that was pretty impressive who you took down Sir Stabby’s squire, Mr…..” 

“It’s Marco, Marco Diaz, and thanks I-I’m honored.” 

“Well I look forward to seeing you around the castle, Marco Diaz.” Lady Whosits starts walking away and waves to Marco who is staring, mesmerized by the fact that a real knight was impressed by him.

“-arco, Mewni to Marco.” Star is waving her hand rapidly in front of Marco’s eyes, trying to get his attention. When he notices Star’s hand, he shakes his head quickly and looks down at her.

“Sorry, sorry, what is it?” Star giggles at Marco’s response to receiving praise from Lady Whosits, finding it funny how he froze up like that. 

“Let’s go back to the room, it’s too crowded out here.” Star grabs Marco’s hand and intertwines her fingers with his, walking him to their room. When Marco walks through the door she closes the door and walks over to the bed and sits down, Marco doing the same. 

“Why did you do that Marco? We could have just made her leave and that’s it.” Star looks up at Marco with a more serious expression. 

“She charged at me! I was just fighting back… Also she did interrupt us, no one interrupts Marco when he is having a moment with his amazing cute girlfriend.” Marco smiles at Star and hopes that what he said was enough to make her forgive him. 

She blushes slightly and smiles before remembering she is meant to be being serious right now so she frowns at him, “I know, but this is Mewni, Marco. Not Earth or any other dimension, you helped me get used to Earth so let me help you learn how to act here.”

Marco’s smile fades, he knows Star is right, “I know, sorry, Star. I’ll listen to you from now on.” Marco looks down at his lap, realizing that this isn’t what he’s used to and he needs to listen to Star. Star notices this and smiles at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and staring at him. This causes Marco to look over at Star, his body turning to face her as well. 

“She did interrupt us though, maybe you’d like to pick up where we left off?” Marco stares into Star’s eyes, being completely enticed by the lustful look she was giving him. He wraps his arms around her waist as Star puts a hand in Marco’s hair, pulling him into a kiss. She leans forward and pushes Marco down against the bed, lying on top of him as they kiss passionately. One of Star’s legs wraps itself around one of Marco’s as they deepen the kiss, her body reacting on it’s own to the feeling of their lips dancing against each other. When she feels Marco’s tongue make contact with her own she loses all control over what she is doing. Her hands leave his hair and press against his chest, slowly moving down to the bottom of his hoodie. Without Marco noticing, pulls his shirt and hoodie up, allowing her to slide her hands under them and onto his chest. Marco stops for a few seconds, stunned by the sudden contact, but then quickly continues kissing her, loving the feeling of her warm hands against his chest. He pulls her even tighter against him in response.

Both of them freeze when they hear someone knocking on the door, Star springs off of Marco and into the air, landing on the floor next to the bed. She quickly stands up and turns to face Marco, gesturing him to pull his shirt and hoodie back down. “Come in!” She shouts to the door while fixing her hair.

The door swings open and River walks through, “Hello dear, I just wanted to come and inform you of the duties you will be taking on in the coming days.” He starts walking towards the bed that Marco is on and sits down next to him. 

“Oh hey Dad, uhhh yeah sure.” She quickly walks over to the bed and sits down in between River and Marco, wrapping her arm around Marco’s arm and holding his hand tightly, worried about what she’ll have to do now that she’s back on Mewni. 

“Well firstly, you will have to gather some troops, including myself, to go and fight Toffee, Glossaryck can give you a spell to find him. You’ll need the strongest warriors you know if you want to beat him.” 

“Okay, when are we planning on going to attack Toffee?” 

“Sometime in the next week to avoid him causing further damage.” River winces at the thought, remembering the sight of Moon when she was sent back to the castle and fearing what would happen if Toffee got to her before they got to him. “Also you will have to give a short speech to the people of Mewni tomorrow morning after breakfast, reassuring them that everything is okay and that you will take care of Toffee.” Star’s grip around Marco’s hand tightens to an almost bone crunching amount of force at what River said.

“D-Dad, you know I’m not good with speeches, I always freeze up when I’m in front of the whole kingdom.” Star gives River a worried look, hoping he will reconsider making her do this.

“I know, Star, but this is important, the kingdom is terrified after w-what happened to y-your mother. It doesn’t have to be anything too long, just a minute or two to calm everyone down.” Star looks down, knowing he is right. She sighs and leans against Marco, wrapping her other arm around his arm too.

“O-Okay, I’ll try.”

“Thank you, Star,” River gets up and starts walking towards the door until Star stops him.

“Wait, what about the coronation, when is that.”

River stops and turns around, tilting his head at Star, “What coronation?”

“Well I thought n-now that Mom i-is gone, you were bringing me here to t-take her place as queen.” Star hate saying that, not only because she misses her Mom and doesn’t want to replace her but also because she doesn’t think she could be as good at ruling as she was.

“Oh no, no, no Star. You aren’t going to become queen for years, because I’m still here I can continue being Mewni’s ruler until you are of age to take the throne.” Star blinks a few times, processing what she just heard, for the past few days she had been thinking that she would be queen, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“Ohhhhh, that makes way more sense, oh thank Mewni, I was not ready to be queen.” Star removes one hand from Marco’s arm and places it on her chest, relieved by what she just heard.

River smiles at Star warmly, happy to see some remnants of happiness in her despite everything she is going through. “Well, I’ll leave you two alone now, I’m sure you want to get settled in. But, Star, don’t forget to prepare for that speech, it is very important.” River then turns around and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. 

Star lies down on the bed and folds her arms over her face, groaning loudly. “Ugh, I really don’t want to give a speech, I always freeze up in front of the kingdom.” Marco grabs Star’s other hand and pulls her back up to a sitting position, hugging her and stroking her hair.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be amazing.” Star wraps her arms around Marco’s neck and rests her head against his shoulder while he strokes her hair.

“Thanks, Marco, but I really don’t know if I can do this, even when I’ve had my Mom there to help me I can still never do it properly.” 

“Hey, I’ll help you prepare for it and I’ll be there to support you while you talk, don’t worry, I’ll help you get through it.”

Star sighs and nuzzles her head deeper against Marco’s neck, wanting to enjoy the feeling of his hand going through her hair for now, until she has to eventually start working on the speech. Star gets an idea about the speech, she gasps and shoots her head up off of Marco’s shoulder and looks at him intently. “You could do the speech with me, I’ll still do most of the talking but you could just say some stuff.”

Marco’s eyes go wide at what Star said, “W-w-what, I d-don’t know if that’s a good idea, the people of Mewni don’t know me, what will it mean to them if I say anything.”

“It’s not for them, Marco, it’s for me. It would really help if you could just talk for a few seconds so I don’t feel like I’m doing it alone.”

Marco rubs the back of his neck, not wanting to disappoint Star, but really not wanting to do a speech in front of all the Mewmans. “I don’t know Star….” Marco looks at Star apologetically, but when he sees her, he knows he has no choice. 

Her eyes were staring at him, glistening in the light, her pupils were somehow getting really large which only added to the effect. His biggest weakness, Star was giving him puppy eyes. “Please don’t do this.”

“Pleeeeaaaasssse,” Star puts her hands together and leans closer to him.

“Uggghhhh, this isn’t fair…. Fine, I’ll do it, but only for a few seconds.” Star immediately stops giving puppy eyes and jumps off the bed, pumping her fists into the air. 

“Yay!” She turns around quickly and tackles Marco into a hug, knocking him down so that he is lying on the bed. “Thank you, Marco.”

“No problem, Star.”

“Seriously, Marco, you’ve done so much for me over the last few days, you’ve really helped me get through all this stuff that's been happening. Thank you so much, Marco.” Marco smiles happily at what Star had said, being very happy that he had helped her so much. Star releases her grip around him and puts her hands on his shoulders. She looks into his eyes and leans forward, pressing her lips against his softly. After a few seconds she pulls back and stands up. “Well, I guess we should probably start working on that speech now.”

Marco nods and stands up, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Together, Star and Marco prepare their speech for the next day, making sure it’s not too long, but still gets the point across. After hours of preparing for the speech, Star and Marco fall asleep together on the bed with a blue canopy, cuddling each other as they drift further into their slumber.


	18. Chapter 17

“..... -ar….. -tar…… Star!” Star’s eyes open halfway when she hears her name, allowing her to see a boy wearing a familiarred hoodie trying to shake her awake.

She yawns before closing her eyes again and sinking deeper into the bed, “Hey Marco….. How’s it hangin’....” She begins drifting off again. Despite Marco’s efforts to shake her awake, the princess’s mind starts turning off once again.

Marco tries prying Star off of her bed, only for her to flopp back down onto it everytime, “Come on Marco… just gimme five…. More…. Hours…. Zzzz,” Star begins peacefully snoring as she lays unmoving on her bed.

Marco starts to worry, unbeknownst to Star, the speech is meant to be in an hour and Marco doesn’t want her to have to do it on an empty stomach, or even not make it to the speech at all.

“Star, come on you’ve gotta get up, the speech is soon.” 

“Why would I get up for that silly speech when this bed is soooo comfy.” Star extends her arms out to her sides as she lays face down in the bed, enjoying how soft her princess quality beds are.

“Because you’re a princess and it’s your duty, remember we worked really hard on it yesterday.” Marco pleads with Star, starting to lose hope that she’ll ever get out of bed again.

``Heh, you said duty…. Silly Marco….” Star says, clearly drifting back into her slumber.

Marco rolls his eyes and groans, not knowing what to do. Marco sits next to Star in bed as she falls back asleep, thinking about what he’s gonna do. After a few minutes of contemplating what to do, Marco gets an idea, smirking down at his sleeping princess. 

“Oh Star, is that the ice cream truck I hear outside?” Star immediately gets up and sprints forward, only to run into the wall. She falls down onto the ground, laying down on the ground and rubbing her head.

“Owww, where did the door go.” Marco walks over to Star and bends over, looking down at her.

“We’re on Mewni now remember, the doors over there.” Marco points over to the door on the left side of the room, smirking down at Star who gives him an annoyed look.

“Marcooo, you lied to me, there’s no ice cream trucks in the castle you meanie.” While staying on the ground, Star crosses her arms and pouts at Marco.

Marco sits down next to Star and takes her hand, helping her up so that they are now looking at each other. She gives him an unamused expression, clearly upset she was forced out of bed. “Sorry, Star, but I had to get you out of bed, wouldn’t you rather eat breakfast first before we have to give the speech.”

Star’s expression softens a bit, “Yeah, you’re right, but now I really want ice cream and there’s none here on Mewni.” Sadness comes onto Star’s face as she looks down, realizing that ice cream, along with many other things, are exclusive to Earth and she won’t be able to get them on Mewni.

“Hey, I’ll tell you what, if you come with me to eat breakfast now and then do the speech, I promise we will go back to earth and get some ice cream, maybe we could even say goodbye to some friends that we won’t see for a while.” Marco smiles at Star, who turns around rapidly to look at Marco, looking perplexed but also very excited at the possibility of going back to Earth, even just for a day.

“Really? What about my dad though, he might not let us.”

“Just leave it to me, Star, I’m sure you’re dad won’t mind. Let’s go get some breakfast.” Marco stands up and pulls Star up after him, not letting go of her hand as they start walking to the dining hall. 

“Thanks Marco. You’re seriously the best.” Star leans over to Marco and wraps her arms tightly around his stomach, resting her head under his arm as they continue walking. Marco looks down and smiles at Star, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. 

They walk like this for a few seconds until Marco realizes he has no idea where the dining hall is. “You don’t know where you’re going do you, Marco?”

Marco sticks his hand out in front of Star and rotates it side to side, indicating he doesn’t know what he’s doing, “Ehhhhh.” 

Star chuckles a bit before getting out from under Marco’s arm and taking the lead, “Don’t worry, your princess is here to save the day and guide you in your time of need.” Star jokes, turning around and offering Marco her hand. 

Marco decides to play along and bow as he takes Star’s hand, “Why thank you, your highness.” Both of them start laughing as they to the dining hall together, preparing to take on the day ahead.

At the Dining Hall

As they arrive at the dining hall Marco’s jaw drops as he marvels at the incredible quantity of food in the room. There are mountains of different food items stacked on tables covering the entire back wall to the room. Any breakfast food he could imagine was there, pancakes, waffles, eggs and bacon. One thing he didn’t quite understand was why there was a bit of corn on every piece of food, including a pile of corn cobs which was much larger than the other piles. 

While Marco is taking in the spectacle that he is looking at, Star spots her dad waving to them from the end of the large table in the center of the room. She waves back to him and looks at Marco, “There’s my dad, come on Marco.” Not letting go of Marco’s hand, she starts walking over to her father, Marco following close behind.

“Goodmorning, Dad.” Star hugs her father before then sitting down in the chair next to him, followed by Marco sitting next to Star. River chuckles as they sit down, Star giving him a confused look.

“Morning? It’s almost noon Star, I had to convince the chef’s to make you a new batch of breakfast food because the rest had gone cold.” Hearing this, Star’s eyes go wide and she quickly turns to look at Marco.

“Hey don’t look at me, I tried to wake you up but you wouldn’t budge.” Star groans and hits her head against the table, laying their face down.

“Ugh, we have to do the speech soon.” She lets out a couple exaggerated whimpers until a waiter arrives with a platter of food. He asks River and Marco what they would like to eat, before then handing River a large corn cob and Marco a large stack of pancakes with a stack of corn kernels on top of it. 

“Uhh, princess? I’m sorry to disturb you, but would you like something to eat.” 

“Corn waffles.” She replies without removing her face from the table, annoyance still evident in her voice. The waiter then hands her a plate of Corn and Waffles, before quickly scuttering off. “Thank you.”

Once the waiter has left, he pats Star’s back and attempts to console her about the speech, “Don’t worry, Star, you’ll do fine, you just need to give a short speech, I’ll be standing right there with you the whole time.” She turns her head up from the table and looks at River and smiling softly at him, thankful for all he does to help her.

Remembering that Marco said he would do the speech with her, she sighs and sits up off of the table, wrapping an arm around one of Marco’s. “About the speech, Dad, I’m gonna do the speech but… we were wondering if Marco could do it with me…” Star notices her dad move back in surprise and quickly tries to justify her request, “He wouldn’t say much, just a little bit to make me feel like I’m not doing it alone. Please, Dad.” Star looks at her father, her eyes pleading for him to say yes. She grasps onto Marco’s arm tighter with every passing second, awaiting River’s response. Marco turns from Star to look at River, hoping he understands how much it would help her if he said yes. 

River suddenly smiles at the pair, causing Star to involuntarily ease her grip around Marco, “I think that is a wonderful idea, the kingdom needs to be introduced to Marco so what better time to do it than now.” 

Star and Marco both go wide eyed with shock with disbelief at how easily River had said yes. Their heads quickly turn to face each other before looking back at River, their mouths hanging wide open. They both shake their heads rapidly before simultaneously speaking, “R-Really?!” 

River, not understanding their confusion, carries on eating peacefully, “Of course, if Marco is to be staying here on Mewni with the royal family then he should be formally introduced to the public.” Star smiles widely at Marco, hugging him tightly. Marco hesitates for a moment, seeing River glance up at them, but he soon reciprocates the gesture. “Are you two going to eat? You have to perform your speech shortly.” 

Star away from Marco quickly and turns to her father, nodding her head at him, “Right.” As Star and Marco start eating River smiles at them, seeing how happy they are together. 

Star, Marco and River quickly finish their food and then go to prepare for the speech, all of them getting changed into presentable attire. River goes out to address the kingdom, informing them that Star has returned while Star and Marco review their notes for the speech.

As they finish discussing the speech, Marco walks towards Star and takes her hand in his, “You ready?” Marco smiles warmly at Star, who looks up at him and weakly smiles back, nodding at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right there with you.” Star’s smiles brightens a bit at what Marco said, she leans towards him and plants a soft kiss on his lips. 

“Thank you, Marco.” Star squeezes Marco’s hand and rests her head against his shoulder, preparing to go out in front of her kingdom and attempt to reassure them. 

Before Marco can say anything, he hears Manfred talking outside the curtain they are standing by, “Now Princess Butterfly will come out and address the current crisis that we are faced with.” Star’s head quickly pops up off of Marco’s shoulder and looks at the curtain. She releases Marco’s hand and hastily walks to the curtain, taking a deep breath as Marco arrives at her side before walking through the curtain.

Star is immediately met with the overwhelming amount of people watching her approach, all the people looking up at her for answers, hoping she can protect them. She reaches the microphone stand at the edge of the balcony, careful not to get too close so people can’t hear her taking deep breaths. Marco then walks through the curtain too, walking up to Star’s side, she looks back at him and they smile at each other. The sight of Marco, someone the kingdom hasn’t seen before, in such close proximity to the royal family makes them start murmuring amongst themselves. Star’s paranoia only increases as the crowd reacts to seeing Marco, not sure of what they are saying. 

After a few too many seconds, Star takes one last deep breath and begins her speech, “People of Mewni, I know that the kingdom is in a tough spot right now and your all probably scared and confused. Queen Moon, my mother, was an amazing ruler for the kingdom, but she was k-killed by an evil monster who goes by the name of Toffee.” At the mention of Toffee’s name gasps and more murmuring could be heard from within the crowd. Star is thankful for the reaction though because it allows her to regain her composure, still struggling to talk about her mother’s death. Marco notices this and hesitantly takes Star’s hand, feeling that it is the right thing to do, despite being in front of the whole kingdom right now, thankfully no one seems to notice due to them standing high up on a balcony. Star smiles a bit at feeling Marco’s hand, squeezing it tightly as she continues, “And in her absence, we are left to take on this threat without her guidance, but I assure you that we have this under control and we will prevail. Toffee is not immortal and he can be defeated, we have proof of it in our history. I will find wherever he is hiding and finally wipe him off the face of our kingdom for all that he has done!” Star begins gaining more confidence as she gets deeper into her speech, passion and rage against Toffee starting to boil inside of her, causing her nervousness to fade. “I will not allow Toffee to continue threatening our kingdom. There is no need to worry, we have some of Mewni’s greatest warriors ready to take on Toffee, and together we will defeat him, once and for all!” 

Seconds after Star finishes, the crowd cheers loudly, expressing their approval of their princesses speech. Hearing the whole kingdom cheering at something she had said warmed Star’s heart, knowing she had restored hope in the citizens of Mewni. The cheers continued for a few seconds, boosting Star’s confidence every second that it lasted, until it slowly started to fade. Star took this as a signal to continue so she leaned towards the microphone again and began speaking again, “One of the people who will be assisting me in defeating Toffee is here right now and I would like to introduce them to all of you.” Star turns around and looks at Marco, giving him a hopeful yet nervous look, ushering him to step forward. Marco obeys her and steps forward, “This, is Marco Diaz of Earth, he is one of the best fighters I have ever met and there is no one I would rather have to help me defeat Toffee.” The crowd stays silent, confused by the thought of a random earthling fighting alongside royalty. Star steps to the side slightly tugging on Marco;s hand, prompting him to move behind the microphone. 

As Marco stands there, preparing to talk to an entire kingdom, it dawns on him that what he says now will be judged by thousands of people. Marco starts getting overwhelmed by the multitude of people looking at him so he turns to Star, hoping for support. Star back at him and gave him a small smile, this exchange going unnoticed by the majority of the crowd. Marco is still incredibly nervous but he knows that this is for Star and he said she wouldn’t have to do it alone, so he clears his throat and begins to talk, “H-hi, Mewni….” Marco pauses and mentally scolds himself for stuttering, he takes a deep breath before continuing, “ I know you’re all probably very confused seeing a random guy like me, standing next to your king and princess, let alone fighting for your kingdom. I’m just a guy from Earth who doesn’t have any magic so what am I gonna do against someone like Toffee.” Hearing the lack of qualification Marco has caused the crowd to begin murmuring again. Marco wastes no time talking again, trying to gain the kingdoms trust, “But just because I don’t have magic, doesn’t mean I can’t fight.” Marco reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. He raises it high above his head, revealing his pair of dimensional scissors, “I spent years in Hekapoo’s dimension, training, fighting monsters just like Toffee and earning my dimensional scissors. With this training I was able to fend off Toffee when he was trying to attack my home.” Audible gasps are heard from within the crowd when they hear that a Human was able to survive in Hekapoo’s dimension and even earn dimensional scissors. “I might not be from Mewni, but this battle means just as much to me as it does to every one of you, because Toffee has hurt the people that I care most about, so I won’t stop until he pays for what he’s done!” Some people in the crowd cheer for Marco, but not nearly as many that cheered for Star. Marco turns to Star and squeezes her hand, he gives her a look that tells her exactly what he is thinking. Star looks away, despite discussing it earlier she is not sure if what he’s thinking is the best idea, but before she has time to decide, Marco’s hand tugs her towards him. She stops at his side and looks up at him, smiling at him and sighing contently. 

Star turns back to the kingdom and prepares for what she is about to say, knowing how big of a deal this would be to not just her kingdom but all neighbouring kingdoms too. “I hope that all of you will accept Marco as my boyfriend, and the one that I hope to rule by my side one day.” Star was sure she heard the whole kingdom gasp as she said that. No one in the crowd could believe that the princess was sent to another dimension to learn how to use her wand, and had chosen a boyfriend there. 

Marco doesn’t want to be silent during this announcement so he continues what he was saying before, “This is Star’s home, and I will fight for it until my dying breath if I have to.” No one in the crowd reacts, no cheering, no murmuring, just silence. Star and Marco both wait in anticipation for any sort of reaction, hoping that they did the right thing.

“Yeah King Marrco!” The silence is broken when one man shouts from inside the crowd. This one comment triggers a chain reaction as people all through the crowd begin cheering for Star and Marco. Star looks at Marco with a wide smile, neither of them could be any happier with the response they had gotten. They both stare into each other's eyes with wide grins on their faces hearing the continuous cheers in the background. Star jumps forward and wrap her arms around Marco’s neck, resting her chin on his shoulder. Marco returns the embrace, wrapping his arms around Star’s back and hugging her tightly. Star moves her head back from his shoulder and looks deep into his eyes, slowly leaning forward and shutting her own eyes. Marco hesitates to return her attempted kiss, not to keen on public displays of affection, but hearing the loud sounds of the crowd still cheering in the background gives him more confidence so he leans forward and closes the distance between them. Their lips meet in a gentle and sweet kiss that sends shockwaves through the kingdom, the cheering not stopping as they kiss each other.

Somewhere Outside of Mewni

A small projector device with Star and Marco kissing in front of the kingdom displayed on it goes up in flames as Tom blasts it in a fit of rage. “Gggrrrrr, you were right! He really just wanted to be her knight, they used me!” Toffee is seated in the back of the room, his hands clasped together on his lap as he was closely observing the projector as it flickers out.

His eyes shift from the burning projector to Tom, “I’m always right…. So, the princess plans on attacking us…. A foolish mistake.” Toffee stands up and exits the tent they were in, looking up at the kingdom castle off in the distance. 

Tom walks follows Toffee out after a few seconds, fire still burning on his hands from seeing Star and Marco a few seconds ago. “What are we gonna do if they attack us, I don’t know if we can take on Mewnies Warriors.”

“You really aren’t very smart are you. They won’t be attacking us, because take the princess out of commission before they can.” 

“That’s a great plan except for the fact that there is no way we can get to them in Butterfly Castle, they tripled their defences and last time we had you boss with us and who knows where he’s gone off to.” Tom says condescendingly, not knowing how Toffee would overlook such a crucial detail. Toffee simply chuckles at Tom’s tone, always being ten steps ahead of him.

“You don’t pay enough attention to their demeanor, the princess has just been plucked from her life on earth because of tragedy striking in her home dimension. She has a lot of pressure on her shoulders and she is a teenager so she won’t be in Mewni, she’ll be in the one place where she feels normal, so we’ll pay her a visit on Earth tonight.” Toffee turns and smirks deviously at Tom who’s eyes go wide at Toffee’s explanation, not being entirely convinced she’ll be on Earth but blown away by his genius level intellect. 

In Butterfly Castle

Star, Marco and River have all just walked through the curtain following their speech, Star and Marco still holding hands with wide smiles on their faces. River turns to face them, “You two were truly amazing out there, I thought your speech was incredible.” 

Ever since her mother’s death, Star had noticed that River wasn’t being his normal self, he was trying to act more professional, more like her mother. She understands why, him being the sole ruler of Mewni now, but she still missed her fun energetic dad. She decides to leave the thought for now and respond to her father’s praise.

Star and Marco both respond at the same time, “Thank you.” They turn to face each other and start laughing, thinking back to after the blood moon ball. The exchange forces a smile onto River’s face as he watches the two teens. When they stop laughing Star removes her hand from Marco’s and pokes him in the shoulder, “I believe someone owes me an ice cream.” 

Marco smiled at Star and nods, “Yeah I know, I know, can we go change first, these clothes are too tight.” Marco grabs the collar of his shirt and tries pulling it away from his neck, only for it to quickly snap back.

Star rolls her eyes, pretending to be annoyed at him, “Fiiiinnneee, but then we go.” River watches this conversation with the confusion on his face increasing with every word. Star and Marco both start walking to their room but River is quick to stop them.

“Where do you two think you’re going?” River steps in front of the pair who both walk into him and fall backwards. Panic and sadness fill Star’s face seeing her dad’s stern expression, knowing he won’t let them go back to Earth.

“Uhhhhhh, we were just-” Star is cut off by Marco who starts speaking instead.

“River, we wanted to go back to earth for one more day, there are some friends there that don;t even know we left and there is food there that we both would like to try one more time since we can’t get it here.” River’s glare intensifies as he attempts to stare through Marco’s skull, Marco doesn’t falter though and keeps a calm expression on his face. 

After a couple seconds, River smiles at Marco and nod, “Very well, make sure you get back early tomorrow, it’ll be a big day.” Star’s jaw literally hits the floor as she falls forward in shock at what her father had said. She couldn’t believe that Marco had convinced him to say yes so easily. 

“Really?! Thank you, Dad. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Star jumps onto River and hugs him, still in complete shock that he’s okay with them going to Earth. River smiles a bit at Star’s joy, happy that he could do something to cheer her up even now when so much is going on. 

River pushes Star off of him gently, “Well, you two better get going now if you want to talk to all of your friends, it’s already 1:30 in Earth time.” Star smiles wider at River and starts running off to their room to change, Marco begins following her but stops and turns to River.

“Thank you, River, this means a lot to Star.” 

River smiles and nods at Marco, “Of course, Marco.” Marco smiles back at River and continues running to follow Star. The two of them quickly changing into their regular attire and gathering a few essentials, before heading off to Earth one last time.


End file.
